



A 







'Wx 



-\\ 




\ ^ 17 losr 



Kx 



x^\ 






Copyright, 

By Thomas Y. Ckowell & Co. 

1891. 



Photogravures by A. W. Elson & Co., Boston. 
T. Y. Crowell & Co., Bookbinders, Boston. 



TO THE MOST NOBLE 
JOHN JAMES 

MARQUIS OF ABERCORN, 



ETC. ETC. ETC. 



THIS POEM IS INSCRIBED 



THE AUTHORc 



INTRODUCTION 

TO 

THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Edition 1S30. 



After the success of ''Marmion," I felt inclined to 
exclaim with Ulysses in the " Odyssey *' — 

Oi'Tog fiev (^r/ ufdTioc uuarog eKreTt/.earui • 

Ni'V avT£ GKOTTov li/JiOV. Odys. X 5» 6. 

"One venturous game my hand has won to-day — 
Another, gallants, yet remains to play." 

The ancient manners, the habits and costumes of the 
aboriginal race by whom the Highlands of Scotland 
were inhabited, had always appeared to me peculiarly 
adapted to poetry. The change in their manners, too, 
had taken place almost within my own time, or at least 
I had learned many particulars concerning the ancient 
state of the Highlands from the old men of the last 
generation. I had always thought the old Scottish 
Gael highly adapted for poetical composition. The 
feuds and political dissensions, which half a century 
earlier would have rendered the richer and wealthier 
part of the kingdom indisposed to countenance a poem, 
the scene of which was laid in the Highlands, were now 
sunk in the generous compassion which the English, 
more than any other nation, feel for the misfortunes of 



8 INTRODUCTION. 



an honorable foe. The Poems of Ossian had, by their 
popularity, sufficiently shown that if writings on High- 
land subjects were qualified to interest the reader, mere 
national prejudices were in the present day very unlikely 
to interfere with their success. 

I had also read a great deal, seen much, and heard 
more of that romantic country, where I was in the habit 
of spending some time every autumn ; and the scenery 
of Loch Katrine was connected with the recollection of 
many a dear friend and merry expedition of former days. 
This poem, the action of which lay among scenes so 
beautiful, and so deeply imprinted on my recollection, 
was a labor of love ; and it was no less so to recall the 
manners and incidents introduced. The frequent cus- 
tom of James IV., and particularly of James V., to walk 
through their kingdom in disguise, afforded me the hint 
of an incident, which never fails to be interesting if 
managed with the slightest address or dexterity. 

I may now confess, however, that the employment, 
though attended with great pleasure, was not without 
its doubts and anxieties. A lady, to whom I was nearly 
related, and with whom I lived, during her whole life, 
on the most brotherly terms of affection^ was residing 
with me at the time when the work was in progress, and 
used to ask me what I could possibly do to rise so early 
in the morning (that happening to be the most conve- 
nient time to me for composition). At last I told her 
the subject of my meditations ; and I can never forget 
the anxiety and affection expressed in her reply. "Do 



INTRODUCTION. 



not be so rash," she said, ''my dearest cousin.* You 
are already popular — more so, perhaps, than you yourself 
will believe, or than even I, or other partial friends, can 
fairly allow to your merit. You stand high — do not 
rashly attempt to climb higher, and incur the risk of a 
fall ; for, depend upon it, a favorite will not be permitted 
even to stumble with impunity." I replied to this 
affectionate expostulation in the words of Montrose — 

" He either fears his fate too much, 
Or his deserts are small, 
Who dares not put it to the touch 
To gain or lose it all." 

" If I fail," I said, for the dialogue is strong in my 
recollection, ''it is a sign that I ought never to have 
succeeded, and I will write prose for life : you shall see 
no change in my temper, nor will I eat a single meal the 
worse. But if I succeed, — 

" Up with the bonnie blue bonnet, 

The dirk, and the feather, and a'!" 

Afterwards I showed my affectionate and anxious 
critic the first canto of the poem, which reconciled her 
to my imprudence. Nevertheless, although I answered 
thus confidently, with the obstinacy often said to be 

* The lady with whom Sir Walter Scott held this conversation, 
was, no doubt, his aunt, Miss Christian Rutherford; there was no 
other female relation dead when this Introduction was written, 
whom I can suppose him to have consulted on literary questions. 
Lady Capulet, on seeing the corpse of Tybalt, exclaims — 

" Tybalt, my cousin ! oh my brother's child ! " — Ed. 



lO INTRODUCTION. 



proper to those who bear my surname, I acknowledge 
that my confidence was considerably shaken by the 
warning of her excellent taste and unbiassed friendship. 
Nor was I much comforted by her retractation of the 
unfavorable judgment, when I recollected how likely a 
natural partiality was to effect that change of opinion. 
In such cases, affection rises like a light on the canvas, 
improves any favorable tints which it formerly exhibited, 
and throws its defects into the shade. 

I remember that about the same time a friend started 
in to "■ heeze up my hope," like the '' sportsman with 
his cutty-gun," in the old song. He was bred a farmer, 
but a man of powerful understandmg, natural good taste, 
and warm poetical feeling, perfectly competent to sup- 
ply the wants of an imperfect or irregular education. 
He was a passionate admirer of field-sports, which we 
often pursued together. 

As this friend happened to dine with me at Ashesteil 
one day, I took the opportunity of reading to him the 
first canto of "The Lady of the Lake," in order to ascer- 
tain the effect the poem was likely to produce upon a 
person who was but too favorable a representative of 
readers at large. It is, of course, to be supposed, that I 
determined rather to guide my opinion by what my 
friend might appear to feel than by what he might think 
fit to say. His reception of my recitation, or prelection, 
was rather singular. He placed his hand across his 
brow, and listened with great attention through the 
whole account of the staf]:-hunt, till the doo:s threw them- 



INTRODUCTION. 1 1 



selves into the lake to follow their master, who embarks 
with Ellen Douglas. He then started up with a sudden 
exclamation, struck his hand on the table, and declared, 
in a voice of censure calculated for the occasion, that 
the dogs must have been totally ruined by being per- 
mitted to take the water after such a severe chase. I 
own I was much encouraged by the species of reverie 
which had possessed so zealous a follower of the sports 
of the ancient Nimrod, who had been completely sur- 
prised out of all doubts of the reality of the tale. An- 
other of his remarks gave me less pleasure. He detected 
the identity of the King with the wandering knight, 
Fitz-James, when he winds his bugle to summon his 
attendants. He was probably thinking of the lively, but 
somewhat licentious, old ballad, in which the denouement 
of a royal intrigue takes place as follows : — : 

" He took a bugle frae his side, 
He blew both loud and shrill, 
And four-and-twentj^ belted knights 
Came skipping ower the hill ; 
Then he took out a little knife, 
Let a' his duddies fa', 
And he was the brawest gentleman 
That was amang them a'. 

And we'll go no more a-roving," &c. 

This discovery, as Mr. Pepys says of the rent in his 
camlet cloak, was but a trifle, yet it troubled me ; and I 
was at a good deal of pains to efface any marks by which 
I thought my secret could be traced before the conclu- 
sion, when I relied on it with the same hope of produc- 



12 INTRODUCTION. 



ing effect, with which the Irish post-boy is said to 
reserve a *'trot for the avenue." 

I took uncommon pains to verify the accuracy of the 
local circumstances of this story. I recollect, in particu 
lar, that to ascertain whether I was telling a probable 
tale, I went into Perthshire, to see whether King James 
could actually have ridden from the banks of Loch Ven- 
nachar to Stirling Castle within the time supposed in 
the Poem, and had the pleasure to satisfy myself that it 
was quite practicable. 

After a considerable delay, " The Lady of the Lake " 
appeared in June, 1810 ; and its success was certainly so 
extraordinary as to induce me for the moment to con- 
clude that I had at last fixed a nail in the proverbially 
inconstant wheel of F'ortune, whose stability in behalf 
of an individual who had so boldly courted her favor for 
three successive times had not as yet been shaken. I 
had attained, perhaps, that degree of public reputation 
at which prudence, or certainly timidity, would have 
made a halt, and discontinued efforts by which I was far 
more likely to diminish my fame than to increase it. 
But as the celebrated John Wilkes is said to have ex- 
plained to his late Majesty, that he himself, amid his full 
tide of popularity, was never a Wilkite, so I can, with 
honest truth, exculpate myself from having been at any 
time a partisan of my own poetry, even when it was in 
the highest fashion with the million. It must not be 
supposed, that I was either so ungrateful, or so super- 
abundantly candid, as to despise or scorn the value of 



INTRODUCTION, 1 3 



those whose voice had elevated me so much higher than 
my own opinion told me I deserved. I felt, on the con- 
trary, the more grateful to the public, as receiving that 
from partiality to me, which I could not have claimed 
from merit ; and I endeavored to deserve the partiality, 
by continuing such exertions as I was capable of for 
their amusement. 

It may be that I did not, in this continued course of 
'^"cribbling, consult either the interest of the public o:; 
my own. But the former had effectual means of 
defending themselves, and could, by their coldness, 
sufficiently check any approach to intrusion ; and for 
myself, I had now for several years dedicated my hours 
so much to literary labor, that I should have felt diffi- 
culty in employing myself otherwise ; and so, like Dog- 
berry, I generously bestowed all my tediousness on the 
public, comforting myself with the reflection, that if 
posterity should think me undeserving of the favor with 
which I was regarded by my contemporaries, " they 
could but say I had the crown," and had enjoyed for a 
time that popularity which is so much coveted. 

I conceived, however, that I held the distinguished 
situation I had obtained, however unworthily, rather like 
the champion of pugilism,* on the condition of being 
always ready to show proofs of my skill, than in the 

* •' In twice five years the * greatest living poet,* 
Like to the champion in the fisty ring, 
Is called on to support his claim, or show it, 
Although 'tis an imaginary thing," etc. 

Don yuan, canto xi. st. 55. 



14 INTRODUCTION, 



manner of the champion of chivalry, who performs his 
duties only on rare and solemn occasions. I was in any 
case conscious that I could not long hold a situation 
which the caprice, rather than the judgment, of the 
public, had bestowed upon me, and preferred being 
deprived of my precedence by some more worthy rival, 
to sinking into contempt for my indolence, and losing 
my reputation by what Scottish lawyers call the nega- 
tive prescription. Accordingly, those who choose to 
look at the Introduction to Rokeby, in the present 
edition, will be able to trace the steps by which I decline 
as a poet to figure as a novelist ; as the ballad says, 
Queen Eleanor sunk at Charing-Cross to rise again at 
Queenhithe. 

It only remains for me to say, that, during my short 
pre-eminence of popularity, I faithfully observed the 
rules of moderation which I had resolved to follow 
before I began my course as a man of letters. If a man 
is determined to make a noise in the world, he is as sure 
to encounter abuse and ridicule, as he who gallops 
furiously through a village must reckon on being followed 
by the curs in full cry. Experienced persons know, that 
in stretching to flog the latter, the rider is very apt to 
catch a bad fall ; nor is an attempt to chastise a malignant 
critic attended with less danger to the author. On this 
principle, I let parody, burlesque, and squibs find their 
own level ; and while the latter hissed most fiercely, I 
was cautious never to catch them up, as school-boys do, 
to throw them back against the naughty boy who fired 



INTRO D UCTION. 1 5 



them off, wisely remembering that they are, in such 
cases, apt to explode in the handling. Let me add, that 
my reign * (since Byron has so called it) was marked by 
some instances of good-nature as well as patience. ] 
never refused a literary person of merit such services in 
smoothing his way to the public as were in my power ; 
and I had the advantage, rather an uncommon one with 
our irritable race, to enjoy general favor, without incur- 
ring permanent ill-will, so far as is known to me, among 
any of my contemporaries. 

W. S. 

Abbotsford, April (1830). 

* " Sir Walter reign'd before," etc. 

Doji yuan, canto xi. st. 57. 



THE 

LADY OF THE LAKE, 

A POEM 
IN SIX CANTOS 



ARGUMENT. 



The Scene of the following Poem is laid chiefly in 
the vicinity of Loch Katrine, in the Western Highlands 
of Perthshire. The time of action includes six days, 
and the transactions of each day occupy a Canto,* 

* " Never, we think, has the analogy between poetry and painting 
been more strikingly exemplified than in the writings of Mr. Scott. 
He sees everything with a painter's eye. Whatever he represents 
has a character of individuality, and is drawn with an accuracy and 
minuteness of discrimination which we are not a' customed to 
expect from verbal description. Much of this, no doubt, is the 
result of genius ; for there is a quick and comprehensive power of 
discernment, an intensity and keenness of observation, an almost 
intuitive glance which nature alone can give, and by means of which 
her favorites are enabled to discover characteristic differences where 
the eye of dulness sees nothing but uniformity; but something also 
must be referred to discipline and exercise. The liveliest fancy can 
only call forth those images which are already stored up in the 
memory; and all that invention can do is to unite these mto new 
combinations, which must appear confused and ill-defined, if the 
impressions originally received by the senses were deficient in 
strength and distinctness. It is because Mr. Scott usually delineates 
those objects with which he is perfectly familiar that his touch is 
so easy, correct, and animated. The rocks, the ravines, and the 
torrents, which he exhibits, are not the imperfect sketches of a 
Slurried traveller, but the finished studies of a resident artist, deliber- 
ately drawn from different points of view; each has its true shape 
■^nd position ; it is a portrait; it has its name by which the spectator 
is invited to examine the exactness of the resemblance. The figures 
which are combined with the landscape are painted with the same 
fidelity. Like those of Salvator Rosa, they are perfectly appropriate 
to the spot on which they stand. The boldness of feature, the 
lightness and compactness of form, the wildness of air, and the 



20 ARGUMENT. 



careless ease of attitude of these mountaineers, are as congenial to 
their native Highlands as the birch and the pine which darken their 
glens, the sedge which fringes their lakes, or the heath which waves 
over their moors." — Quarterly Revieiv, May, 1810. 

" It is honorable to Mr. Scott's genius that he has been able to 
interest the public so deeply with this third presentment of the same 
chivalrous scenes; but we cannot help thinking that both his glory 
and our gratification would have been greater if he had changed his 
hand more completely, and actually given us a true Celtic story, 
V/ith all its drapery and accompaniments in a corresponding style of 
decoration. Such a subject, we are persuaded, has very great 
capabilities, and only wants to be introduced to public notice by 
such a hand as Mr. Scott's to make a still more powerful impression 
than he has already effected by the resurrection of the tales of 
romance. There are few persons, we believe, of any degree of 
poetical susceptibility, who have wandered among the secluded 
valleys of the Highlands, and contemplated the singular people by 
whom they are still tenanted —with their love of music and of song 
— their hardy and irregular life, so unlike the unvarying toils of the 
Saxon mechanic — their devotion to their chiefs— their wild and 
lofty traditions — their national enthusiasm — the melancholy gran- 
deur of the scenes they inhabit — and the multiplied superstitions 
which still linger among them— without feeling that there is no 
existing people so well adapted for the purposes of poetry, or so 
capable of furnishing the occasions of new and striking inventions. 

" We are persuaded that if Mr. Scott's powerful and creative 
genius were to be turned in good earnest to such a subject, something 
might be produced still more impressive and original than even th's 
age has yet witnessed."— Jeffrey, Edmburgh Review, No. xvi.., 
for 1 8 10. 



THE 



LADY OF THE LAKE, 



CANTO FIRST. 

THE CHASE. 

Harp of the North ! that mouldering long hast hun; 

On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's sprin 
And down the fitful breeze thy numbers flung/ 

Till envious ivy did around thee cling, 
Muffling with verdant ringlet every string, — 

O minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep? 
Mid rustling leaves and fountains murmuring, 

Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep. 
Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep ? 

Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon, 

Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd, 

When lay of hopeless love, or glory won. 
Aroused the fearful, or subdued the proud. 

At each according pause, was heard aloud ^ 

* MS. : "And on the fitful breeze thv numbers flung, 
Till envious ivy, with her verdant ring, 
Mantled and muffled each melodious string, — • 
O Wizard Harp, still must thine accents sleep?" 

^ MS. : " At each according pause thou spokest aloud 
Thine ardent sympathy." 



22 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto L 



Thine ardent symphony siibUme and high ! 
Fair dames and crested chiefs attention bow'd 

For still the burden of thy minstrelsy 
Was Knighthood's dauntless deed, and Beauty's match 
less eye. 

O wake once more ! how rude soe'er the hand 

That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray ; 
O wake once more ! though scarce my skill command 

Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay : 
Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away, 

And all unworthy of thy nobler strain, 
Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway. 

The wizard note has not been touch'd in vain. 
Then silent be no more ! Enchantress, wake again ! 



I. 

The stag at eve had drunk his fill, 
Where danced the moon on Monan's rill, 
And deep his midnight lair had made 
In lone Glenartney's hazel shade; 
But, when the sun his beacon red 
Had kindled on Benvoirlich's head, 
The deep-mouth'd bloodhound's heavy bay 
Resounded up the rocky way,' 

MS. : "The bloodhound's notes of heavy bass, 
Resounded hoarsely up the pass." 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 23 

And faint, from farther distance borne. 
Were heard the clanging hoof and horn. 

II. 

As Chief who hears his warder call, 

" To arms ! the foemen storm the wall," 

The antler'd monarch of the waste 

Sprung from his heathery couch in haste. 

But, ere his fleet career he took, 

The dewdrops from his flanks he shook ; 

Like crested leader proud and high, 

Toss'd his beam'd frontlet to the sky ; 

A moment gazed adown the dale, 

A moment snuff' d the tainted gale, 

A moment listen'd to the cry, 

That thicken'd as the chase drew nigh ; 

Then, as the headmost foes appear'd, 

With one brave bound the copse he clear' d, 

And, stretching forward free and far, 

Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var.' 

• Ua-var, as the name is pronounced, or more properly Uaigh' 
mor, is a mountain to the northeast of the village of Callender 
in Menteith, deriving its name, which signifies the great den or 
cavern, from a sort of retreat among the rocks on the south side, 
said, by tradition, to have been the abode of a giant. In latter 
times it was the refuge of robbers and banditti, who have been only 
extirpated within these forty or fifty years. Strictly speaking, this 
stronghold is not a cave, as the name would imply, but a sort of 
small enclosure, or recess, surrounded with large rocks, and open 
above head. It may have been originally designed as a toil for deer, 
who might get in from the outside, but would find it difficult to 
return. This opinion prevails among the old sportsmen and deer- 
stalkers in the neighborhood. 



24 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [Canto L 

III. 

Yell'd on the view the opening pack ; 
Rock, glen, and cavern, paid them back ; 
To many a mingled sound at once 
The awaken'd mountain gave response, 
A hundred dogs bay'd deep and strongs 
Clatter'd a hundred steeds along, 
Their peal the merry horns rung out, 
A hundred voices join'd the shout ; 
With hark and whoop and wild halloo, 
No rest Benvoirlich's echoes knew,' 
Far from the tumult fled the roe. 
Close in her covert cower'd the doe, 
The falcon, from her cairn on high. 
Cast on the rout a wondering eye, 
Till far beyond her piercing ken 
The hurricane had swept the glen. 
Faint, and more faint, its failing din 
Return'd from cavern, cliff, and linn, 
And silence settled, wide and still. 
On the lone wood and mighty hill. 

IV. 

Less loud the sounds of sylvan war 
Disturb'd the heights of Uam-Var, 

1 Benvoirlich, a mountain comprehended in the cluster of 
the Grampians, at the head of the valley of the Garry, a river which 
springs, from its base. It rises to an elevation of three thousand three 
hundred and thirty feet above the level of the sea. 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 2$ 

And roused the cavern, where, 'tis told, 
A giant made his den of old ; 
For ere that steep ascent was won, 
High in his pathway hung the sun, 
And many a gallant, stayed perforce, 
Was fain to breathe his faltering horse 
And of the trackers of the deer, 
Scarce half the lessening pack was near ; 
So shrewdly on the mountain side 
Had the bold burst their mettle tried. 

V. 

The noble stag was pausing now, 
Upon the mountain's southern brow, 
Where broad extended, far beneath. 
The varied realms of fair Menteith, 
With anxious eye he wander'd o'er 
Mountain and meadow, moss and moor, 
And ponder'd refuge from his toil. 
By far Lochard ' or Aberfoyle. 

' "About a mile to the westward of the inn of Aberfoyle. 
Lochard opens to the view. A few hundred yards to the east of it, 
the Avendow, which had just issued from the lake, tumbles its 
ivaters over a rugged precipice of more than thirty feet in height, 
^forming, in the rainy season, several very magnificent cataracts. 

"The first opening of the lower lake, from the east, is uncom- 
-nonly picturesque. Directing the eye nearly westward, Benlomond 
raises its pyramidal mass in the background. In nearer prospect, 
you have gentle eminences, covered with oak and birch to the very 
summit; the bare rock sometimes peeping through amongst the 
clumps. Immediately under the eye, the lower lake, stretching out 
from narrow besrinninsfs to a breadth of about half a mile, is seen in 



26 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. LCanto t 



But nearer was the copsewood gray, 
That waved and wept on Loch-Achray, 
And mingled with the pine-trees blue 
On the bold cliffs of Benvenue. 
Fresh vigor with the hope return'd,* 
With flying foot the heath he spurn'd, 

full prospect. On the right, the banks are skirted with extensive 
oak woods, which cover the mountain more than hah' way up. 

" Advancing to the westward, the view of the lake is lost for about 
a mile. The upper lake, which is by far the most extensive, is sepa- 
rated from the lower bj a stream of about two hundred yards in length. 
The most advantageous view of the upper lake presents itself from, 
a rising ground near its lower extremity, where a footpath strikes off 
to the south, in the wood that overhangs this connecting stream. 
Looking westward, Benlomond is seen in the background, rising, at 
the distance of six miles, in the form of a regular cone, its sides 
presenting a gentle slope to the northwest and southeast. On the 
right is the lofty mountain of Benoghrie, running west towards the 
deep vale in which Lochcon lies concealed from the eye. In the 
foreground, Lochard stretches out to the west in fairest prospect; 
its length three miles, and its breadth a mile and a half. On 
the right it is skirted with woods ; the northern and western 
extremity of the lake is diversified with meadows, and cornfields, 
and farm-houses. On the left, few marks of cultivation are to be 
seen. 

*' Farther on, the traveller passes along the verge of the lake 
under a ledge of rock, from thirty to fifty feet high; and, standing 
immediatelv under this rock, towards its western extremity, he has a 
double echo of uncommon distinctness. Upon pronouncing, with a 
firm voice, a line of ten syllables, it is returned, first from the op- 
posite side of the lake ; and when that is finished, it is repeated with 
equal distinctness from the wood on the east. The day must be 
perfectl}' calm, and the lake as smooth as glass, for otherwise 
no human voice can be returned from a distance of at least a 
quarter of a mile." — Graham's Sketches of Perthshire, 2d edit 
p. 182, etc. 

' MS. : "Fresh vigor with the thought return'd, 
With flying hoofxh^ heath he spurn'd." 



Canto L] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 2; 

Held westward with unwearied race, 
And left behind the panting chase. 

VI. 

'Twere long to tell what steeds gave o'er, 
As swept the hunt through Cambus-more ; ' 
What reins were tighten'd in despair, 
When rose Benledi's ridge in air ; ^ 
Who flagged upon Bochastle's heath, 
Who shunn'd to stem the flooded Teith--'' 
For twice that day, from shore to shore, 
The gallant stag swam stoutly o'er. 
Few were the stragglers, following far, 
That reached the lake ol Vennachar;-^ 
And when the Brigg of Turk was won,5 
The headmost horseman rode alone. 

1 Cambu$-inore, within about two miles of Callender, on the 
wooded banks of the Keltie, a tributary of the Teith, is the ssat of a 
family of the name of Buchanan, whom the poet frequently visited 
in his younger days. 

'■^ Benledi is a magnificent mountain, three thousand and nine feet 
in height, which bounds the horizon on the northwest from Callen. 
der. The name, according to Celtic etymologists, signifies "/le 
Mountain of God. 

3 Two mountain streams — the one flowing from Loch Voil. by 
the pass of Leny; the other from Loch-Katrine, by Loch Achraj 
and Loch Vennachar, unite at Callender: and the river (hus formed 
thenceforth takes the name of Teith. Hence the designation of the 
territory of Menteitk. 

^ ■ Loch Vennachar, a beautiful expanse of water, of about five 
miles in length, by a mile and a half in breadth." — Graham. 

^ "About a mile above Loch Vennachar, the approach (from the 
east), to the Brigg ox Bridge of Turk (the scene of the death of & 
Wild-boar famous in Celtic tradition), leads to Mie summit of an 



28 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto 1 

VII. 

Alone, but with unbatcd zeal, 
That horseman plied the scourge and steel ; 
For jaded now, and spent with toil, 
Emboss'd with foam, and dark with soil, 
While every gasp with sobs he drew, 
The laboring stag strain'd full in view. 
Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed, 
Unmatch'd for courage, breath, and speed, ^ 



eminence, where there bursts upon the traveller's eye a sudden and 
wide prospect of the windings of the river that issues from Loch 
Achray, with that sweet lake itself in front; the gently rolling river 
pursues its serpentine course through an extensive meadow; at the 
west end of the lake on the side of Aberfoyle is situated the delight- 
ful farm of Achray, the level fields a denomination justly due to it, 
when considered in contrast with the rugged rocks and mountains 
which surround it. From this eminence are to be seen also, on the 
right hand, the entrance to Glenfinlas, and in the distance Ben- 
venue." — Graham. 

i-'The hounds which we call Saint Hubert's hounds are com- 
monlv all blacke, yet, neuertheless, the race is so mingled at these 
days, that we find them of all colours. These are the hounds which 
the abbots of St. Hubert haue always kept some of their race or kind 
in honour or remembrance of the saint, which was a hunter with 
S. Eustace. Whereupon we may conceiue that (by the grace of God) 
all good huntsmen shall follow them into paradise. To return vnto 
my former purpose, this kind of dogges hath bene dispersed through 
the counties of Renault, Loryne, Flanders, and Burgoyne. They 
are mighty of body, neuertheless their legges are low and short, 
likewise thev are not swift, although they be very good of sent, 
hunting chaces which are farre straggled, fearing neither water nor 
cold, and doe more couet the chaces that smell, as foxes, bore, and 
such like, than other, because they find themselves neither of swift- 
ness nor courage to hunt and kill the chaces that are lighter and 
swifter. The bloodhounds of this colour proue good, especially 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 29 

Fast on his flying traces came, 

And all but won that desperate game ; 

For, scarce a spear's length from his haunch 

Vindictive toil'd the bloodhounds stanch ; 

Nor nearer might the dogs attain, 

Nor farther might the quarry strain, 

Thus up the margin of the lake, 

Between the precipice and brake, 

O'er stock and rock their race they take, 

VIIL 

The Hunter mark'd that mountain high. 
The lone lake's western boundary, 
And deem'd the stag must turn to bay, 
Where that huge rampart barr'd the way ; 
Already glorying in the prize, 
Measured his antlers with his eyes ; 
For the death-wound and death-halloo, 
Muster'd his breath, his whinyard drew; — ' 

those that are cole blacke, but 1 made no great account to breed on 
them, or to keepe the kind, and yet I found a book which a hunter 
did dedicate to a prince of Lorayne, which seemed to loue hunting 
much, wherein was a blason which the same hunter gaue to his 
bloodhound, called Souyllard, which was white: — 

" My name came first from holy Hubert's race, 
Souyllard my sire, a hound of singular grace." 

Whereupon we may presume that some of the kind proue white 
sometimes, but they are not of the kind of the Greffiers or Bouxes, 
which we haue at these days."— The noble art of Venerie or Htm t- 
ing, translated atid collected for the Use of all Noblemen and 
Gentlemen. Lond. 161 1, 4to, p. 15. 

1 When the stag turned to bay, the ancient hunter had the 
perilous task of going in upon and killing or disabling the desperate 



30 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto 1. 

But thundering as he came prepared, 
With ready arm and weapon bared, 
The wily quarry shunn'd the shock, 
And turn'd him from the opposing rock ; 
Then, dashing down a darksome glen, 
Soon lost to hound and hunter's ken, 

animal. At certain times of the year this was held particularity 
dangerous, a wound received from a stag's horn being then deemed 
poisonous, and more dangerous than one from the tusk of a boar, as 
the old rhyme testifies : — 

" If thou be hurt with hart, it brings thee to thy bier, 
But barber's hand will boar's hurt heal, therefore thou need'st not fear." 

At all times, however, the task was dangerous, and to be adventured 
upon wisely and warily, either by getting behind the stag while he 
was gazing on the hounds, or by watchmg an opportunity to gallop 
roundly in upon him, and kill him with the sword. See many direc- 
tions to this purpose in the Booke of Hunting, chap. 41. Wilson, 
the historian, has recorded a most providential escape which befell 
him in this hazardous sport, while a youth and follower of the Earl 
of Essex. 

" Sir Peter Lee, of Lime, in Cheshire, invited my lord one sum- 
mer to hunt the stagg. And having a great stagg in chase, and many 
gentlemen in the pursuit, the stagg took soyle. And divers, whereof 
1 was one, alighted, and stood with swords drawne, to have a cut at 
him, at his coming out of the water. The staggs there being 
wonderfully fierce and dangerous, made us youths more eager to be 
at him. But he escaped us all. And it was my misfortune to be 
hindered of my coming nere him, the way being sliperie, by a falle; 
which gave occasion to some, who did not know mee, to speak as if 
I had falne for feare. Which being told mee, I left the stagg. and 
followed the gentleman who [first] spake it. But I found him of 
that cold temper, that it seems his words made an escape from him ; 
as by his denial and repentance it appeared. But this made mee 
more violent in the pursuit of the stagg, to recover my reputation. 
And I happened to be the only horseman in, when the dogs sett him 
up at bay; and approaching ""ear him on horsebacke, he broke 
through the dogs, and run at mee, and tore my horse's side with his 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 3 1 

In the deep Trosachs' ' wildest nook 

His solitary refuge took. 

There, while close couch'd, the thicket shed 

Cold dews and wild-flowers on his head, 

He heard the baffled dogs in vain 

Rave through the hollow pass amain, 

Chiding the rocks that yell'd again. 

IX. 

Close on the hounds the Hunter came, 
To cheer them on the vanished game ; 
But stumbling in the rugged dell, 
The gallant horse exhausted fell. 
The impatient rider strove in vain 
To rouse him with the spur and rein. 
For the good steed, his labors o'er, 
Stretch'd his stiff limbs, to rise no more ; 
Then, touch'd with pity and remorse. 
He sorrow'd o'er the expiring horse. 
*' I little thought, when first thy rein 
I slack'd upon the banks of Seine, 
That Highland eagle e'er should feed 
On thy fleet limbs, my matchless steed ! 

homes close by my thigh. Then I quitted m}' horse, and grew more 
cunning (for the dogs had sette him up again), stealing behind him 
with my sword, and cut his hamstrings ; and then got upon his back, 
and cut his throate : which, as I was doing, the company came in, 
and blamed my rashness for running such a hazard." — Peck's 
Desiderata Curiosa^ ii. 464. 

• "The term Trosachs signifies the rough or bristled territory." 
—- Graham. 



32 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto 1. 

Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day, 
That costs thy Hfe, my gallant gray ! " 

X. 

Then through the dell his horn resounds, 
From vain pursuit to call the hounds. 
Back limp'd, with slow and crippled pace, 
The sulky leaders of the chase ; 
Close to their master's side they press'd, 
With drooping tail, and humbled crest ; 
But still the dingle's hollow throat 
Prolong'd the swelling bugle-note. 
The owlets started from their dream. 
The eagles answer'd with their scream, 
Round and around the sounds were cast, 
Till echo seem'd an answering blast ; 
And on the Hunter hied his way,' 
To join some comrades of the day ; 
Yet often paused, so strange the road. 
So wondrous were the scenes it show'd. 

XL 

The western waves of ebbing day 
RoU'd o'er the glen their level way ; 
Each purple peak, each flinty spire. 
Was bathed in floods of living fire. 
But not a setting beam could glow 
Within the dark ravines below, 

• MS..- "And on the hunter hied his /ace, 

To meet some comrades of the c/iase" 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 33 

Where twined the path in shadow hid, 

Round many a rocky pyramid. 

Shooting abruptly from the dell 

Its thunder-splinter'd pinnacle ; 

Round many an insulated mass, 

The native bulwarks of the pass,' 

Huge as the tower which builders vain 

Presumptuous piled on Shinar's plain.^ 

The rocky summits, split and rent, 

Form'd turret, dome, or battlement, 

Or seem'd fantastically set 

With cupola or minaret. 

Wild crests as pagod ever deck'd, 

Or mosque of Eastern architect. 

Nor were these earth-born castles bare,^ 

Nor lack'd they many a banner fair ; 

For, from their shiver'd brows displayed, 

Far, o'er the unfathomable glade. 

All twinkling with the dewdrops sheen,^ 

The brier-rose fell in streamers green. 

And creeping shrubs, of thousand dyes. 

Waved in the west-wind's summer sighs. 

XII. 

Boon nature scatter'd free and wild, 

Each plant or flower, the mountain's child» 

^ MS. : " The mimic castles of the pass." 

* The Tower of Babel. — Genesis, xi. 1-9. 

^ MS. : " Nor were these mighty bulwarks bare." 

* MS. : " Bright glistening- vf'xih. the dewdrops sheen." 



34 THE. LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto L 

Here edantine embalm'd the air, 

Hawthorn and hazel mingled there ; 

The primrose pale and violet flower, 

Found in each clift a narrow bower ; 

Fox-glove and night-shade, side by side, 

Emblems of pmiishment and pride. 

Group' d their dark hues with every stain 

The weather-beaten crags retain. 

With boughs that quaked at every breath, 

Gray birch and aspen wept beneath ; 

Aloft, the ash and warrior oak 

Cast anchor in the rifted rock ; 

And, higher yet, the pine-tree hung 

His shatter'd trunk, and frequent flung,' 

Where seem'd the cliffs to meet on high, 

His boughs athwart the narrow' d sky. 

Highest of all, where white peaks glanced. 

Where glist'ning streamers waved and danced. 

The wanderer's eye could barely view 

The summer heaven's delicious blue ; 

So wondrous wild, the whole might seem 

The scenery of a fairy dream. 

MS. : " His scathed trunk, and frequent flung, 

Where seem'd the cliffs to meet on high, 
His rugged arms athwart the sky. 
Highest of all, where white peaks glanced. 
Where ttvi/ikluiir streamers waved and danced." 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 35 

XIII. 

Onward, amid the copse 'gan peep 
A narrow inlet, still and deep, 
Affording scarce such breadth of brim,^ 
As served the wild duck's brood to swim. 
Lost for a space, through thickets veering, 
But broader when again appearing, 
Tall rocks and tufted knolls their face 
Could on the dark-blue mirror trace ; 
And farther as the Hunter stray'd. 
Still broader s\v^eep its channels made. 
The shaggy mounds no longer stood, 
Emerging from entangled wood,^ 
But, wave-encircled, seem'd to float, 
Like castle girdled with its moat ; 
Yet broader floods extending still 
Divide them from their parent hill, 
Till each, retiring, claims to be 
An islet in an inland sea. 

XIV. 

And now. to issue from the glen. 
No pathway meets the wanderer's ken, 
Unless he climb, with footing nice, 
A far projecting precipice.^ 

* MS. : "Affording scarce such breadth of flood, 

As served to float the wild-duck's brood." 
^ MS. : " Emerging dry-shod from the wood." 
^ Until the present road was made through the romantic pass 



36 THE LABV OF THE LAKE. [Canto I 

The broom's tough roots his ladder made, 

The hazel saplings lent their aid ; 

And thus an airy point he won, 

Where, gleaming with the setting sun, 

One burnish'd sheet of living gold, 

Loch Katrine lay beneath him roU'd,' 

In all her length far winding lay. 

With promontory, creek, and bay, 

And islands that, empurpled bright. 

Floated amid the livelier light. 

And mountains, that like giants stand. 

To sentinel enchanted land. 

High on the south, huge Benvenue^ 

Down on the lake in masses threw 

Crags, knolls, and mounds, confusedly hurl'd, 

The fragments of an earlier world ; 

A wildering forest feather'd o'er 

His ruin'd sides and summit hoar,^ 

which I have presumptuously attempted to describe in the preceding 
stanzas, there was no mode of issuing out of the defile called the 
Trosachs excepting by a sort of ladder, composed of the branches 
and roots of trees. 

1 Loch-Ketturin is the Celtic pronunciation. In his Notes to The 
Fair Maid of Perth, the author has signified his belief that the lake 
was named after the Cattertns, or wild robbers, who haunted its 
shores. 

^ Benvenue — is literally the little mountain — t. e., as contrasted 
with Benledi and Benlomond. 

^ MS. : " His ruined sides ^rv^ fragments hoar 
While on the north to middle air," 



Canto I.] THE LADV OF THE LAKE, 37 

While on the north, through middle air, 
Ben-an ' heaved high his foreheaa bare.^ 

XV. 

From the steep promontory gazed ^ 

The stranger, raptured and amazed. 

And, "What a scene were here," he cried, 

" For princely pomp, or churchman's pride ! 

On this bold brow, a lordly tower ; 

In that soft vale, a lady's bower ; 

On yonder meadow, far away, 

The turrets of a cloister gray ; 

How blithely might the bugle-horn 

Chide, on the lake, the lingering morn ! 

How sweet, at eve, the lover's lute 

Chime, when the groves were still and mute 1 

And, when the midnight moon should lave 

Her forehead in the silver wave, 

1 According to Graham, Ben-an, or Bennan, is a mere diminutive 
of Beji — Mountain. 

- Perhaps the art of landscape-painting in poetry has never been 
displayed in higher perfection than in these stanzas, to which rigid 
criticism might possibly object that the picture is somewhat too 
minute, and that the contemplation of it detains the traveller some- 
what too long from the main purpose of his pilgrimage, but which 
it would be an act of the greatest injustice to break into fragments, 
and present by piecemeal. Not so the magnificent scene which 
bursts upon the bewildered hunter as he emerges at length from the 
dell, and commands at one view the beautiful expanse of Loch Kat- 
rine." — Critical Revie-iv, August, 1820. 

^ MS. : " From the high promontory gazed 

The stranger, axve-struck aiit^ amazed." 



^S THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto I. 

How solemn on the ear would come 
The holy matins' distant hum, 
While the deep peal's commanding tone 
Should wake, in yonder islet lone, 
A sainted hermit from his cell. 
To drop a bead with every knell — 
And bugle, lute, and bell, and all. 
Should each bewilder' d stranger call 
To friendly feast and lighted hall/ 

XVI. 

" Blithe were it then to wander here ! 
But now, — beshrew yon nimble deer, — 
Like that same hermit's, thin and spare, 
The copse must give my evening fare ; 
Some mossy bank my couch must be. 
Some rustling oak my canopy.- 
Yet pass we that ; the war and chase 
Give little choice of resting-place ; — 
A summer night, in greenwood spent, 
Were but to-morrow's merriment : 
But hosts may in these wilds abound, 
Such as are better missed than found ; 
To meet with Highland plunderers here. 
Were worse than loss of steed or deer. — 3 

^- MS. : "To hospitable feast and hall." 

^ MS. : ''And Jiollov) triuik of some old tree. 
My chamber for the night must bey 

« The clans who inhabited the romantic regions in the neigh- 
borhood of Loch Katrine, were, even until a late period, much ad- 
dicted to predatory excursions upon their Lowland neighbors. " In 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 39 

I am alone ; — my bugle-strain 
May call some straggler of the train 
Or, fall the worst that may betide, 
Ere no\^this falchion has been tried." 

XVII. 

But scarce again his horn he wound,' 
When lo ! forth starting at the sound, 
From underneath an aged oak. 
That slanted from the islet rock; 
A damsel guider of its way, 
A little skiff shot to the bay,' 

former times, those parts of this district, which are situated beyond 
the Grampian range, were rendered almost inaccessible bj strong 
barriers of rocks, and mountains, and lakes. It was a border 
country, and though on the very verge of the low country, it was 
almost totally sequestered from the world, and, as it were, insulated 
with respect to society. 'Tis well known that in the Highlands it 
was, in former times, accounted not only lawful, but honorable, 
among hostile tribes, to commit depredations on one another; and 
these habits of the age were perhaps strengthened in this district by 
the circumstances which have been mentioned. It bordered on a 
country, the inhabitants of which, while they were richer, were less 
v/arlike than they, and widely differenced by language and manners." 
— Graham's Sketches of Scenery in Perthshire, Edin. 1806, p. 97. 
The reader will therefore be pleased to remember, that the scene of 
this poem is laid in a time, — 

" Wlien looming' faulds, or sweeping of a glen, 
Had still been held the deed of gallant men." 

^ MS. ; '• The bugle shrill again he wound. 

And lo ! forth starting at the sound." 

^ MS. : " A little skiff shot to the bay, 

The Hunter left his airy stand, 
And when the boat had touch'd the sand, 
Conceal'd he stood amid the brake, 
To view this Lady of the Lake." 



40 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto I. 

That round the promontory steep 

Led its deep line in graceful sweep, 

Eddying, in almost viewless wave, 

The weeping willow twig to lave.. 

And kiss, with whispering sound and slow, 

The beach of pebbles bright as snow. 

The boat had touch'd this silver strand, 

Just as the Hunter left his stand, 

And stood conceal'd amid the brake, 

To view this Lady of the Lake. 

The maiden paused, as if again 

She thought to catch the distant strain. 

With head up-raised, and look intent. 

And eye and ear attentive bent. 

And locks flung back, and lips apart, 

Like monument of Grecian art, 

In listening mood, she seem'd to stand 

The guardian Naiad of the strand. 

XVIII. 

And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace ' 

A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace, 

Of finer form, or lovelier face ! 

What though the sun with ardent frown. 

Had slightly tinged her cheek with brown, -v. 

The sportive toil, which, short and light. 

Had dyed her glowing hue so bright, 

I MS. • "A finer form, a fairer face, 

Had never marble N\'mph or Grace, 
That boasts the Grecian chisel's trace." 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 4I 

Served too in hastier swell to show 
Short glimpses of a breast of snow : 
What though no rule of courtly grace 
To measured mood had train'd her pace, — 
A foot more light, a step more true, 
Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew ; 
E'en the slight harebell raised its head, 
Elastic from her airy tread : 
What though upon her speech there hung 
The accents of the mountain tongue, — ' 
Those silver sounds, so soft, so clear, 
The list'ner held his breath to hear ! 

XIX. 

A Chieftain's daughter seem'd the maid ; 
Her satin snood,^ her silken plaid. 
Her golden brooch, such birth betray'd. 
And seldom was a snood amid 
Such wild luxuriant ringlets hid, 
Whose glossy black to shame might bring 
The plumage of the raven's wing ; 
And seldom o'er a breast so fair. 
Mantled a plaid with modest care. 
And never brooch the folds combined 
Above a heart more good and kind. 
Her kindness and her worth to spy, 
You need but gaze on Ellen's eye : 

1 MS. : " The accents of a stranger tongue." 

2 See Note/<35/. on Canto III. stanza 5. 



42 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto t 

Not Katrine, in her mirror blue, 

Gives back the shaggy banks more true, 

Than every free-born glance confess'd 

The guileless movements of her breast ; 

Whether joy danced in her dark eye, 

Or woe or pity claim'd a sigh, 

Or filial love was glowing there. 

Or meek devotion poured a prayer, 

Or tale of injury called forth 

The indignant spirit of the North. 

One only passion unreveal'd. 

With maiden pride the m.aid conceal'd, 

Yet not less purely felt the flame ; — 

O need I tell that passion's name ! 

XX. 

Impatient of the silent horn. 

Now on the gale her voice was borne : — 

" Father!" she cried ; the rocks around 

Loved to prolong the gentle sound. 

A while she paused, no answer came, — * 

"Malcolm, was thine the blast.?" the name 

Less resolutely utter'd fell, 

' MS. ; "A space she paused, no answer came, — 
' Alpine^ was thine the blast?' the name 
Less resohitelj utter'd fell, 
The echoes could not catch the swell. 
' Nor foe nor friend,' the stranger said, 
Advancing from the hazel shade. 
The startled maid, with hasty oar, 
Push'd 'ier light shallop from the shore." 



Canto L] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 43 

The echoes could not catch the swell. 
"A stranger I," the Huntsman said, 
Advancing from the hazel shade. 
The maid, alarmed, with hasty oar 
Pushed her light shallop from the shore, 
And when a space was gained between. 
Closer she drew her bosom's screen ; 
(So forth the startled swan would swing,' 
So turn to prune his ruffled wing), 
Then safe, though flutter'd and amazed, 
She paused, and on the stranger gazed. 
Not his the form, nor his the eye. 
That youthful maidens wont to fly. 

XXI. 

On his bold visage middle age 
Had slightly press'd its signet sage. 
Yet had not quench'd the open truth 
And fiery vehemence of youth ; 
Forward and frolic glee was there. 
The will to do, the soul to dare. 
The sparkling glance, soon blown to fire, 
Of hasty love, or headlong ire. 
His limbs were cast in manly mould. 
For hardy sports or contest bold ; 
And though in peaceful garb array'd, 
And weaponless, except his blade, 

^ MS. : " So o'er the lake the swan would spring 
Then turn to px-une its ruffled wing." 



44 THE LADY OF_ THE LAKE. [Canto lu 

His stately mien as well implied 

A high-born heart, a martial pride, 

As if a Baron's crest he wore. 

And sheathed in armor trode the shore, 

Slighting the petty need he show'd 

He told of his benighted road ; 

His ready speech flow'd fair and free, 

In phrase of gentlest courtesy ; 

Yet seem'd that tone, and gesture bland. 

Less used to sue than to command. 

xxn. 

A while the maid the stranger eyed, 

And, reassured, at length replied, 

That Highland halls were open still ^ 

To wilder'd wanderers of the hill. 
■ " Nor think you unexpected come 

To yon lone isle, or desert home ; 

Before the heath had lost the dew. 

This morn, a couch was puU'd for you ; 

On yonder mountain's purple head 
• Have ptarmigan and heath-cock bled, 

And our broad nets have swept the mere, 

To furnish forth your evening cheer." 

" Now, by the rood, my lovely maid, 

Vour courtesy has err'd," he said; 

" No right have I to claim, misplaced. 

The welcome of expected guest. 

^ MS. : " Her fathers' hall -vas open still.' 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 45 

A wanderer here by fortune tost, 
My way, my friends, my courser lost, 
I ne'er before, believe me, fair, 
Have ever drawn your mountain air, 
Till on this lake's romantic strand,' 
I found a fay in fairy land ! " 

XXIII. 

" I well believe," the maid replied. 

As her light skiff approached the side, — 

"• I well believe that ne'er before 

Your foot has trod Loch Katrine's shore ; 

But yet, as far as yesternight. 

Old Allan-Bane foretold your plight, — • 

A gray-hair'd sire, whose eye intent 

Was on the vision'd future bent.'' 

He saw your steed, a dappled gray. 

Lie dead beneath the birchen way ; 

Painted exact your form and mien. 

Your hunting-suit of Lincoln green, 

That tassell'd horn so gayly gilt, 

That falchion's crooked blade and hilt, 

That cap with heron plumage trim. 

And yon two hounds so dark and grim. 

He bade that all should ready be. 

To grace a guest of fair degree ; 

But light I held his prophecy, 

1 MS. : "Till on the lake's ^«c//«;///«^ strand- 
^ MS. • *^ /5 ofte7i on the future bent," 
See Appendix, Note A. 



46 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto I. 

And deem'd it was my father's horn, 
Whose echoes o'er the lake were borne." 

XXIV. 

The stranger smiled : " Since to your home 

A destined errant-knight I come, 

Announced by prophet sooth and old, 

Doom'd, doubtless, for achievement bold, 

I'll lightly front each high emprise, 

For one kind glance of those bright eyes. 

Permit me, first, the task to guide 

Your fairy frigate o'er the tide." 

The maid, with smile suppress'd and sly, 

The toil unwonted saw him try ; 

For seldom sure, if e'er before. 

His noble hand had grasp'd an oar; 

Yet with main strength his strokes he drew, 

And o'er the lake the shallop flew ; 

With heads erect, and whimpering cry, 

The hounds behind their passage ply. 

Nor frequent does the bright oar break 

The dark'ning mirror of the lake, 

Until the rocky isle they reach. 

And moor their shallop on the beach. 

XXV. 

The stranger view'd the shore around ; 
'T was all so close with copsewood bound. 

'• MS. : " This gentle hand had grasp'd an oar; 

Yet with main strength the oars he drew." 



Canto L] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 47 

Nor track nor pathway might declare 
That human foot frequented there, 
Until the mountain-maiden show'd 
A clambering unsuspected road, 
That winded through the tangled screen, 
And open'd on a narrow green, 
Where weeping birch and willow round 
With their long fibres swept the ground. 
Here, for retreat in dangerous hour, 
Some chief had framed a rustic bower/ 

XXVI. 

It was a lodge of ample size. 

But strange of structure and device ; 

Of such materials, as around 

The workman's hand had readiest found. 



^ The Celtic chieftains, whose lives were continually exposed to 
peril, had usually in the most retired spot of their domains, som.e 
place of retreat for the hour of necessity, which, as circum^iances 
would admit, was a tower, a cavern, or a rustic hut, in a strong and 
secluded situation. One of these last gave refuge to the unfortunate 
Charles Edward, in his perilous wanderings after the battle of 
Culloden. 

" It was situated in the face of a very rough, high, and rocky 
mountain, called Letternilichk, still a part of Benalder, full of great 
stones and crevices, and some scattered wood interspersed. The 
habitation called the Cage, in the face of that mountain, was within 
a small thick bush of wood. There were first some rows of trees 
laid down, in order to level the floor for a habitation ; and as the 
place was steep, this raised the lower side to an equal height with 
the other ; and these trees, in the way of joists or planks, were 
levelled with earth and gravel. There were betwixt the trees grow- 
ing naturally on their own roots, some stakes fixed in the earth 



48 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto I. 

Lopp'd of their boughs, their hoar trunks bared. 

And by the hatchet rudely squared, 

To give the walls their destined height, 

The sturdy oak and ash unite ; 

While moss and clay and leaves combined 

To fence each crevice from the wind. 

The lighter pine-trees, overhead. 

Their slender length for rafters spread, 

And wither'd heath and rushes dry 

Supplied a russet canopy. 

Due westward, fronting to the green, 

A rural portico was seen. 

Aloft on native pillars borne, 

Of mountain fir with bark unshorn, 

Where Ellen's hand had taught to twine 

The ivy and Idaean vine, 

The clematis, the favor'd flower 

Which boasts the name of virgin-bower. 

And every hardy plant could bear 

Loch Katrine's keen and searching air. 

which, with the trees, were interwoven with ropes, made of heath 
and birch twigs, up to the top of the Cage, it being of a round or 
rather oval shape ; and the whole thatched and covered over with 
fog. The whole fabric hung, as it were, by a large tree, which 
reclined from the one end, all along the roof, to the other, and 
which gave it the name of the Cage; and by chance there happened 
to be two stones at a small distance from one another, in the side 
next the precipice, resembling the pillars of a chimney, where the 
fire was placed. The smoke had its vent out here, all along the fall 
of the rock, which was so much of the same colour that one could 
discover no difference in the clearest day." — Home's History o/ ike 
Rebellion. Lond., 1802, 4to, p. 381, 



Canto I.} THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 49 

An instant in this porch she stayed, 
And gayly to the stranger said, 
" On heaven and on thy lady call, 
And enter the enchanted hall ! " 

XXVII. 

*' My hope, my heaven, my trust must be 

My gentle guide, in following thee." 

He cross'd the threshold — and a clang 

Of angry steel that instant rang. 

To his bold brow his spirit rush'd, 

But soon for vain alarm he blush'd, 

When on the floor he saw display'd, 

Cause of the din, a naked blade 

Dropp'd from the sheath, that careless flung 

Upon a stag's huge antlers swung ; 

For all around the walls to grace. 

Hung trophies of the fight or chase ; 

A target there, a bugle here, 

A battle-axe, a hunting spear, 

And broadswords, bows, and arrows store 

With the tusk'd trophies of the boar. 

Here grins the wolf as when he died ' 

And there the wild-cat's brindled hide 

The frontlet of the elk adorns. 

Or mantles o'er the bison's horns ; 

MS. : " Here grins the wolf as when he died, 

There hung the wild-cat's brindled hide. 
Above the elk's branch'd brow and skuli, 
And frontlet of the forest bull." 



so THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto I 

Pennons and flags defaced and stain'd 
That blackening streaks of blood retain'd 
And deer-skins, dappled, dun, and white. 
With otter's furs and seal's unite. 
In rude and uncouth tapestry all. 
To garnish forth the sylvan hall. 

XXVIIL 

The wandering stranger round him gazed, 

And next the fallen weapon raised : — 

Few were the arms whose sinewy strength 

Sufficed to stretch it forth at length. 

And as the brand he poised and sway'd, 

" I never knew but one," he said, 

•'* Whose stalwart arm might brook to wield 

A blade like this in battle-field." 

She sigh'd, then smiled, and took the word 

" You see the guardian champion's sword ; 

As light it trembles in his hand. 

As in my grasp a hazel wand ; 

My sire's tall form might grace the part 

Of Ferragus, or Ascabart ; ' 

But in the absent giant's hold 

Are women now, and menials old." 

XXIX. 

The mistress of the mansion came, 
Mature of age, a graceful dame ; 

1 See Appendix, Note B 



Canto I.j THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 5 J 



Whose easy step and stately port 

Had well become a princely court, 

To whom, though more than kindred kne-rV, 

Young Ellen gave a mother's due.' 

Meet welcome to her guest she made. 

And every courteous rite was paid. 

That hospitality could claim, 

Though all unask'd his birth and name/ 

Such then the reverence of a guest. 

That fellest foe might join the feast. 

And from his deadliest foeman's door 

Unquestion'd turn, the banquet o'er. 

At length his rank the stranger names, 

" The Knight of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James ; 

Lord of a barren heritage. 

Which his brave sires, from age to age. 

By their good swords had held with toil ; 

His sire had fall'n in such turmoil, 

And he, God wot, was forced to stand 

Oft for his right with blade in hand. 

This morning with Lord Moray's train 

He chased a stalwart stas: in vain. 



J MS. : •' To whom, though more remote her claim 
Young Ellen gave a mother's name." 

2 The Highlanders, who carried hospitality to a punctilious 
excess, are said to have considered it churlish to ask a stranger his 
name or lineage before he had taken refreshment. Feuds were 
so frequent among them, that a contrary rule would in many cases 
have produced the discovery of' some circumstance, which might have 
excluded the guest from the benefit of the assistance he stood in 
ueed of. 



52 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Cant« t 

Outstripp'd his comrades, miss'd the deer, 
Lost his good steed, and wander'd here." 

XXX. 

Fain would the Knight in turn require 
The name and state of Ellen's sire. 
Well show'd the elder lady's mien,' 
That courts and cities she had seen ; 
Ellen, though more her looks display'd^ 
The simple grace of sylvan maid. 
In speech and gesture, form and face, 
Show'd she was come of gentle race. 
" 'Twere strange in ruder rank to find 
Such looks, such manners, and such mind. 
Each hint the Knight of Snowdoun gave. 
Dame Margaret heard with silence grave ; 
Or Ellen, innocently gay, 
Turn'd all inquiry light away : — 
" Weird women we ! by dale and down 
We dwell, afar from tower and town. 
We stem the flood, we ride the blast. 
On wandering knights our spells we cast ; 

1 MS. : " Well show'd the mother's easy mien." 

2 MS. : " Ellen, though more her looks betray' d 

The simple heart of mountain maid, 
In speech and gesture, form and grace, 
Show'd she was come of gentle race ; 
'Twas strange, in birth so rude, to find 
Such face^ such manners, and such mind. 
Each aiixious hint the stranger gave, 
The mother heard with silence grave." 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 53 

While viewless minstrels touch the string, 
'Tis thus our charmed rhymes we sing." 
She sung, and still a harp unseen 
Fill'd up the symphony between.' 

XXXI. 

SONG. 

*' Soldier, rest ! thy warfare o'er, 

Sleep the sleep that knows no breaking ; 
Dream of battled fields no more, 
Days of danger, nights of waking. 

1 "They," meaning the Highlanders, " delight much in music, but 
chiefly in harps and clairschoes of their own fashion. The strings of 
the clairschoes are made of brass wire, and the strings of the harps 
of sinews ; which strings they strike either with their najdes, grow- 
ing long, or else with an instrument appointed for that use. They 
take pleasure to decke their harps and clairschoes with silver and 
precious stones ; the poor ones that cannot attayne hereunto, decke 
them with christall. They sing verses prettily compound, contayn- 
ing (for the most part) prayses of valiant men. There is not almost 
any other argument, whereof their rhymes intreat. They speak 
the ancient French language altered a little."* " The harp and the 
clairschoes are now only heard in the Highlands in ancient song. 
At what period these instruments ceased to be used is not on record ; 
and tradition is silent on this head. But, as Irish harpers occasion- 
ally visited the Highlands and Western Isles until lately, the harp 
might have been extant so late as the middle of the present century. 
Thus far we know, that from remote times down to the present, 
harpers were received as welcome guests, particularly in the High- 
lands of Scotland ; and so late as the latter end of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, as appears by the above quotation, the harp was in commcn 
use among the natives of the Western Isles. How it happened that 
the noisy and unharmonious bagpipe banished the soft and expressive 

* Vide " Certayne Matters concerning- the Realme of Scotland, etc., as they were 
Anno Domini 1597. Lond., 1603," 4to. 



54 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto L 

In our isle's enchanted hall, 

Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, 
Fairy strains of music fall, 

Every sense in slumber dewing. 
Soldier, rest ! thy warfare o'er. 
Dream of fighting fields no more ; 
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking, 
Morn of toil, nor night of waking. 

*' No rude sound shall reach thine ear,' 

Armor's clang, or war-steed champing, 
Trump nor pibroch summon here 

Mustering clan, or squadron tramping. 
Yet the lark's shrill fife may come 

At the daybreak from the fallow. 
And the bittern sound his drum. 

Booming from the sedgy shallow. 
Ruder sounds shall none be near, 
Guards nor warders challenge here, 

harp we cannot say; but certain it is, that the bagpipe is now the 
only instrument that obtains universally in the Highland districts." 
— Campbell's Journey through North Britain. Lond., 1808, 4to, 

I. 175- 

Mr. Gunn, of Edinburgh, has lately published a curious Essay 
upon the Harp and Harp Music of the Highlands of Scotland. 
That the instrument was once in common use there is most certain. 
Cleland numbers an acquaintance with it among the few accomplish- 
ments which his satire allows to the Highlanders : — 

"In nothing they're accounted sharp, 
Except in bagpipe or in harp." 

1 MS.: '-'•Noon of hunger^ night of waking. 

No rude sound shall rouse thine ear." 



CANTO L] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. ' 55 



Here's no war-steed's neigh and champing, 
Shouting clans, or squadrons stamping." 

XXXII. 

She paused — then, bkishing, led the lay ^ 
To grace the stranger of the day. 
Her mellow notes awhile prolong 
The cadence of the flowing song. 
Till to her lips in measured frame 
The minst/el verse spontaneous came. 

SONG CONTINUED. 

" Huntsman, rest ! thy chase is done. 

While our slumbrous spells assail ye,^ 
Dream not, with the rising sun, 

Bugles here shall sound reveille. 
Sleep ! the deer is in his den ; 

Sleep ! thy hounds are by thee lying ; 
Sleep ! nor dream in yonder glen. 

How thy gallant steed lay dying. 
Huntsman, rest ; thy chase is done, 
Think not of the rising sun. 
For at dawning to assail ye, 
Here no bugles sound reveille." 

1 MS. : " She paused — but waked again the lay." 
' MS. : " Slumber sweet our spells shall deal je, 

11 f avail ye, 
Let our slumbrous spells | ^^^J^^ ^^,. 



7 HE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto 1 



XXXIIL 

The hall was clear'cl — the stranger's bed 

Was there of mountain heather spread, 

Where oft a hundred guests had lain, 

And dream'd their forest sports again.* 

But vainly did the heath-flower shed 

Its moorland fragrance round his head ; 

Not Ellen's spell had lull'd to rest 

The fever of his troubled breast. 

In broken dreams the image rose 

Of varied perils, pains, and woes : 

His steed now flounders in the brake. 

Now sinks his barge upon the lake ; 

Now leader of a broken host. 

His standard falls, his honor's lost. 

Then, — from my couch may heavenly might 

Chase that worst phantom of the night ! — 

Again return'd the scenes of youth, 

Of confident undoubting truth ; 

Again his soul he interchanged 

With friends whose hearts were long estranged 

They come, in dim procession led. 

The cold, the faithless, and the dead ; 

As warm each hand, each brow as gay, 

As if they parted yesterday. 

And doubt distracts him at the view, 

were his senses false or true ! 

1 MS. : "And dream'd their mountain chase again." 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 57 

Dream'd he of death, or broken vow, 
Or is it all a vision now ! ' 

XXXIV. 

At length, with Ellen in a grove 

He seem'd to walk, and speak of love ; 

She listen'd with a flush and sigh, 

His suit was warm, his hopes were high. 

He sought her yielded hand to clasp, 

And a cold gauntlet met his grasp : 

The phantom's sex was changed and gone, 

Upon its head a helmet shone ; 

Slowly enlarged to giant size. 

With darkened cheek and threatening eyes, 

The grisly visage, stern and hoar, 

To Ellen still a likeness bore. — 

1 "Ye guardian spirits, to whom man is dear, 

From these foul demons shield the midnight gloo/n \ 
Angels of fancy and of love, be near, 

And o'er the blank of sleep diffuse a bloom. 
'3voke the sacred shades of Greece and Rome, 

And let them virtvie with a look impart; 
But chief, awhile, O ! lend us from the tomb 

Those long-lost friends for whom in love we smart, 
And fill with pious awe and joy-mixt woe the heart. 

'Or are you sportive? — bid the morn of youth 

Rise to new light, and beam afresh the days 
Of innocence, simplicity, and truth; 

To cares estranged, and manhood's thorny ways. 
What transport, to retrace our boyish plays, 

Our easy bliss, when each thing joy supplied; 
The woods, the mountains, and the warbling maze 

Of the wild brooks.?"— Castle, of Indoleuce, Catito J. 



58 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto I, 

He woke, and, panting with affright, 

Recall'd the vision of the night/ 

The hearth's decaying brands were red, 

And deep and dusky kistre shed, 

Half showing, half concealing, all 

The uncouth trophies of the hall. 

Mid those the stranger fix'd his eye. 

Where that huge falchion hung on high, 

And thoughts on thoughts, a countless throng, 

Rush'd, chasing countless thoughts along. 

Until, the giddy whirl to cure, 

He rose, and sought the moonshine pure. 

XXXV. 

The wild-rose, eglantine, and broom, 
Wasted around their rich perfume : ^ 
The birch-trees wept in fragrant balm, 
The aspens slept beneath the calm ; 



' " Such a strange and romantic dream as may be naturally ex- 
pected to flow from the extraordinary events of the past day. It 
might, perhaps, be quoted as one of Mr. Scott's most successful 
efforts in descriptive poetry. Some few lines of it are indeed un- 
rivalled for delicacy and melancholy tenderness." — Critical Re' 
vie XV. 

2 A/Tc ii r>i 'J [the bosom of the lake, 
^ MS. : " Plav d on < ^ , ^^ . , 

l Loch Katrme s still expanse; 

The birch, the wild-rose, and the broom, 

Wasted around their rich perfume. . . . 

The birch-trees wept in balmy dew; 

The aspen slept on Benvenue : 

Wild were the heart whose passions' power 

Defied the influence of the hour." 



Canto I.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



59 



The silver light, with quivering glance, 

Play'd on the water's still expanse, — 

Wild were the heart whose passions' sway 

Could rage beneath the sober ray ! 

He felt its calm, that warrior guest. 

While thus he communed with his breast : — » 

" Why is it, at each turn I trace 

Some memory of that exil'd race ? 

Can I not mountain-maiden spy, 

But she must bear the Douglas eye ? 

Can I not view a Highland brand. 

But it must match the Douglas hand ? 

Can I not frame a fever'd dream. 

But still the Douglas is the theme ? 

I'll dream no more — by manly mind 

Not even in sleep is will resign'd. 

My midnight orisons said o'er, 

I'll turn to rest, and dream no more." 

His midnight orisons he told, 

A prayer with every bead of gold, 

Consigned to heaven his cares and woes. 

And sunk in undisturb'd repose ; 

Until the heath-cock shrilly crew. 

And morning dawn'd on Benvenue. 



CANTO SECOND. 

THE ISLAND. 

I. 

At morn the black-cock trims his jetty wing, 

'Tis morning prompts the Hnnet's blithest lay, 
All Nature's children feel the matin spring 

Of life reviving, with reviving day ; 
And while yon little bark glides down the bay, 

Wafting the stranger on his way again. 
Morn's genial influence roused a minstrel gray, 

And sweetly o'er the lake was heard thy stram, 
Mix'd with the sounding harp, O white-hair'd Allan- 
Bane ! ' 

1 That Highland chieftains, to a late period, retained in their ser- 
vice the bard, as a family officer, admits of very easy proof. The 
author of the Letters from the North of Scotland, an officer of en- 
gineers, quartered at Inverness about 1720, who certainly cannot be 
deemed a favorable witness, gives the following account of the office, 
and of a bard whom he heard exercise his talent of recitation : " The 
bard is skilled in the genealogy of all the Highland families, some- 
times preceptor to the young laird, celebrates in Irish verse the 
original of the tribe, the famous warlike actions of the successive 
heads, and sings his own lyricks as an opiate to the chief, when in- 
disposed for sleep ; but poets are not equally esteemed and honored 
in all countries. I happened to be a witness of the dishonor done 
to the muse, at the house of one of the chiefs, where two of these 
bards were set at a good distance, at the lower end of a long table, 
with a parcel of Highlanders of no extraordinary appearance, over a 
60 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 6\ 



11. 

SONG. 

Not faster yonder rowers' might 

Flings from their oars the spray, 
Not faster yonder rippling bright 
That tracts the shallop's course in light, 

Melts in the lake away, 
Than m.an from memory erase 
The benefits of former days ; 
Then, stranger, go ! good speed the while, 
Nor think again of the lonely isle. 

" High place to thee in royal court, 

High place in battle line, 
Good hawk and hound for sylvan sport, 
Where beauty sees the brave resort,' 

The honor'd meed be thine ! 

cup of ale. Poor inspiration ! They were not asked to drink a glass 
of wine at our table, though the whole company consisted only of 
the great man, one of his near relations, and myself. After some 
little time, the chief ordered one of them to sing me a Highland 
song. The bard readily obeyed, and with a hoarse voice, and in a 
tune of few various notes, began, as I was told, one of his own 
lyricks : and when he had proceeded to the fourth or fifth stanza, I 
perceived, by the names of several persons, glens, and mountains, 
which I had known or heard of before, that it was an account of some 
clan battle. But in his going on, the chief (who piques himself 
upon his school-learning), at some particular passage, bid bin? 
cease, and cried out, 'there's nothing like that in Virgil or Homer.' 
I bowed and told him I believed so. This you may believe was very 
edifying and delightful." — Letters, ii. 167. 

^ MS. '^ "At tourneys where the brxve resort." 



62 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [Canto IL 

True be thy sword, thy friend sincere, 
Thy lady constant, kind, and dear, 
And lost in love and friendship's smile 
Be memory of the lonely isle. 

III. 

SONG CONTIN-JED. 

" But if beneath yon southern sky 

A plaided stranger roam, 
Whose drooping crest and stifled sigh, 
And sunken cheek and heavy eye, 

Pine for his Highland home ; 
Then, warrior, then be thine to show 
The care that soothes a wanderer's woe ; 
Remember then thy hap ere while, 
A stranger in the lonely isle. 

*' Or if on life's uncertain main 

Mishap shall mar thy sail ; 
If faithful, wise,, and brave in vain, 
Woe, want, and exile thou sustain 

Beneath the fickle gale ; 
Waste not a sigh on fortune changed. 
On thankless courts, or friends estranged, 
But come where kindred worth shall smile. 
To greet thee in the lonely isle." 

IV. 

As died the sounds upon the tide. 
The shallop reach'd the mainland side. 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 63 

And ere his onward way he took, 

The stranger cast a Hngering look, 

Where easily his eye might reach 

The Harper on the islet beach. 

Reclined against a blighted tree, 

As wasted, grey, and worn as he. 

To minstrel meditation given. 

His reverend brow was raised to heaveiij 

As from the rising sun to claim 

A sparkle of inspiring fiame. 

His hand reclined upon the wire, 

Seem'd watching the awakening fire ; 

So still he sate, as those who wait 

Till judgment speak the doom of fate ; 

So still, as if no breeze might dare 

To lift one lock of hoary hair ; 

So still, as life itself were fled, 

In the last sound his harp had sped. 



V. 

Upon a rock with lichens wild, 
Beside him Ellen sate and smiled, — 
Smiled she to see the stately drake 
Lead forth his fleet upon the lake, 
While her vexed spaniel, from the beach; 
Bay'd at the prize beyond his reach ? 
Yet tell me, then, the maid who knows. 
Why deepen'd on her cheek the rose ? 



64 THE LADV OF THE LAKE. [Canto II. 



Forgive, forgive, Fidelity ! 
Perchance the maiden smiled to see 
Yon parting lingerer wave adieu, 
And stop and turn to wave anew ; 
And, lovely ladies, ere your ire 
Condemn the heroine of my lyre, 
Show me the fair would scorn to spy, 
And prize such conquest of her eye ! 



VI. 

While yet he loiter'd on the spot, 
It seem'd as Ellen mark'd him not ; 
But when he turn'd him to the glade, 
One courteous parting sign she made :, 
And after, oft the knight would say. 
That rot when prize of festal day 
Was dealt him by the brightest fair, 
Who e'er wore jewel in her hair, 
So highly did his bosom swell. 
As at that simple mute farewell. 
Now with a trusty mountain-guide, 
And his dark stag-hounds by his side. 
He parts — the maid unconscious still, 
Watch'd him wind slowly round the hill * 
But when his stately form was hid. 
The guardian in her bosom chid — 
" Thy Malcolm ! vain and selfish maid ! " 
'Twas thus upbraiding conscience said, — 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 65 



*' Not SO had Malcolm idly hung 

On the smooth phrase of southern tongue ; 

Not so had Malcolm strain'd his eye, 

Another step than thine to spy.' 

Wake Allan-Bane," aloud she cried, 

To the old Minstrel by her side, — 

" Arouse thee from thy moody dream ! 

I'll give thy harp heroic theme, 

And warm thee with a noble name ; 

Pour forth the glory of the Grceme ! ""^ 

Scarce from her lips the word had rush'd, 

When deep the conscious maiden blush'd : 

For of his clan, in hall and bower. 

Young Malcolm Graeme was held the flower. 

VII. 

The Minstrel waked his harp — three times 
Arose the well-known martial chimes, 



* MS. : " The loveliest Lowland fair to spy." 

2 The ancient and powerful family of Graham (which, for metri- 
;al reasons, is here spelt after the Scottish pronunciation) held ex- 
-.ensive possessions in the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling. 
Pew families can boast of more historical renown, having claim to 
:hree of the most remarkable characters in the Scottish annals. Sir 
fohn the Graeme, the faithful and undaunted partaker of the labors 
and patriotic warfare of Wallace, fell in the unfortunate field of Fal- 
iirk, in 1298. The celebrated IVIarquis of Montrose, in whom De 
R.etz saw realized his abstract idea of the heroes of antiquity, was 
che second of these worthies. And, notwithstanding the severity of 
[lis temper, and the rigor with which he executed the oppressive 
mandates of the princes whom he served, I do not hesitate to name 
as a third, John Graeme, of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee, whose 
heroic death, in the arms o^ victory, may be allowed to cancel the 



66 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto II. 

And thrice their high heroic pride 

In melancholy murmurs died. 

"Vainly thou bid'st, O noble maid," 

Clasping his wither'd hands, he said, 

" Vainly thou bid'st me wake the strain, 

Though all unwont to bid in vain. 

Alas ! than mine a mightier hand 

Has tuned my harp, my strings has spann'd ! 

I touch the cords of joy, but low 

And mournful answer notes of woe ; 

And the proud march, which victors tread, 

Sinks in the wailing for the dead. 

O well for me, if mine alone 

That dirge's deep prophetic tone ! 

If, as my tuneful fathers said. 

This harp, which erst Saint Modan sway'd,' 

Can thus its master's fate foretell. 

Then welcome be the minstrel's knell ! 

memory of his cruelty to the non-conformists, during the reigns of 
Charles II. and James II. 

^ I am not prepared to show that Saint Modan was a performer 
on the harp. It was, however, no unsaintly accomplishment : for 
Saint Dunstan certainly did play upon that instrument, which, re- 
taining, as was natural, a portion of the sanctity attached to its m.as- 
ter's character, announced future events by its spontaneous sound. 
"But laboring once in these mechanic arts for a devout matrone 
that had sett him on work, his violl, that hung by him on the wall, 
of its own accord, without anie man's helpe, distinctly sounded this 
anthime : Gandent in coelis animoe sanctorum qui Chrisii vestigia 
sunf secuti ; et quia pro eius amore sangHincm $uum fuderunt, ideo 
cum Christo gaudent (vteruum. Whereat all the companie being 
much astonished, turned their eyes from beholding him working, to 
look on that strange accident. . . . Not long after, manie of the 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 67 

VIII. 

*' But ah ! dear lady, thus it sigh'd 

The eve thy sainted mother died ; 

And such the sounds which, while I strove 

To wake a lay of war or love, 

Came marring all the festal mirth, 

Appalling me who gave them birth, 

court that hitherunto had borne a kind of fayned friendship towards 
him, began now greatly to envie at his progresse and rising in 
goodnes, using manie crooked, backbiting nieanes to diftame his 
vertues with the black maskes of hjpocrisie. And the better to 
authorize their calumnie, they brought in this that happened in the 
violl, affirming it to have been done by art magick. What more.'' 
this wicked rumour increased dayly, till the king and others of the 
nobilitie taking hould thereof, Dunstan grew odious in their sight. 
Therefore he resolued to leaue the court, and goe to Elphegus, sur- 
named the Bauld, then bishop of Winchsster, who was his cozen. 
Which his enemies understanding, they layd wayt for him in the 
way, and hauing throwne him off his horse, beate him, and dragged 
him in the durt in the most miserable manner, meaning to have 
slaine him, had not a companie of mastiue dogges, that came un- 
lookt uppon them, defended and redeemed him from their crueltie. 
When with sorrow he was ashamed to see dogges more humane than 
they. And giuing thankes to Almightie God, he sensibly again per- 
ceiued that the tunes of his violl had giuen him a warning of future 
accidents." — Floxver of the Lives of the most reno-cvncd Saijicts of 
England, Scotland, and Trela7id, by the R. Father Hiercme 
Porter. Doway, 1632, 4to, tome i. p. 438. 

The same supernatural circumstance is alluded to by the anony- 
Uious author of " Grim, the Collier of Croydon." 

" {Dtaistan'' s harp sounds on the z'jall.") 

" Forest. Hark, hark, my lords, the holy abbott's harp 

Sounds by itself so hanging on the wall ! 
" Dtinstan. Unliallow'd man, that scorn'st the sacred rede, 

Hark, how the' testimony of my truth 

Sounds heavenly music with an angel's hand, 

To testify Dunstan's integrity, 

\nd prove thy active boast of no effect." 



68 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto II. 

And, disobedient to my call, 

Wail'd loud through Bothwell's banner'd hall, 

Ere Douglasses, to ruin driven, ' 

Were exiled from their native heaven. 

Oh! if yet worse mishap and woe. 

My master's house must undergo, 

^ The downfall of the Douglasses of the house of Angus, during 
the reign of James V., is the event alluded to in the text. The Eari 
of Angus, it will be remembered, had married the queen dowager, 
and availed himself of the right which he thus acquired, as well as 
of his extensive power, to retain the king in a sort of tutelage, which 
approached very near to captivity. Several open attempts were made 
to rescue James from this thraldom, with which he was well known 
to be deeply disgusted; but the valor of the Douglasses, and their 
allies, gave them the victory in everj^ conflict. At length the king, 
while residing at Falkland, contrived to escape by night out of his 
own court and palace, and rode full speed to Stirling Castle, where 
the governor, who was of the opposite faction, joyfully received him. 
Being thus at liberty, James speedily summoned around him such 
peers as he knew to be most inimical to the domination of Angus, 
and laid his complaint before them, says Pitscottie, "with great 
lamentations : showing to them how he was holden in subjection, 
thir years bygone, by the Earl of Angus, and his kin and friends, 
who oppressed the whole country, and spoiled it, under the pretence 
of justice and his authority; and had slain many of his lieges, kins- 
men, and friends, because they would have had it mended at their 
hands, and put him at liberty, as he ought to have been at the 
counsel of his whole lords, and not have been subjected and cor- 
rected with no particular men, by the rest of his nobles : Therefore, 
said he, I desire, my lords, that I may be satisfied of the said earl, 
his kin, and friends; for I avow, that Scotland shall not hold us 
both, while [/'. e. till] I be revenged on him and his. 

"The Lords hearing the king's complaint and lamentation, and 
also the great rage, fury, and malice, that he bore toward the Earl 
of Angus, his kin and friends, they concluded all, and thought it 
best that he should be summoned to underlay the law : if he found 
no caution, nor yet compear himself, that he should be put to the 
horn, with all his kin and friends, so many as were contained in the 



Canto il.J THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 69 

Or aught but weal to Ellen fair, 
Brood in these accents of despair, 
No f^uture bard, sad Harp ! shall fling 
Triumph or rapture from thy string ; 
One short, one final strain shall flow, 
Fraught with unutterable woe, 
Then shiver'd shall thy fragments lie, 
Thy master cast him down and die !" 

IX. 

Soothing she answer'd him, " Assuage, 
Mine honor'd friend, the fears of age ; 
- All melodies to thee are known. 

That harp has rung, or pipe has blown. 

In Lowland v^ale or Highland glen. 

From Tweed to Spey — what marvel, then, 

At times, unbidden notes should rise, 

Confusedly bound in memory's ties. 

Entangling as they rush along. 

The war-march with the funeral song? — 

Small ground is now for boding fear ; 

Obscure, but safe, we rest us here. 

My sire, in native virtue great. 

Resigning lordship, lands, and state, 

letters. And farther, the lords ordained, by advice of his majesty, 
that his brother and friends should be summoned to find caution to 
underlay the law within a certain day, or else be put to the horn- 
But the eiirl appeared not, nor none for him : and so he was put to 
the horn, with all his kin and friends : so many as were contained 
in the summons, that compeared not, were banished, and holden 
traitors to the king." 



JO THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto II. 

Not then to fortune more resign'd, 

Than yonder oak might give the wind ; 

The graceful foliage storms may reave, 

The noble stem they cannot grieve. 

For me," — she stoop'd, and, looking round, 

Pluck'd a blue hare-bell from the ground, — 

"■ For me, whose memory scarce conveys 

An image of more splendid days. 

This little flower that loves the lea. 

May well my simple emblem be ; 

It drinks heaven's due as blithe as rose ' 

That in the king's own garden grows ; 

And when I place it in my hair, 

Allan, a bard is bound to swear 

He ne'er saw coronet so fair." 

Then playfully the chaplet wild 

She wreath'd in her dark locks, and smiled. 

X. 

Her smile, her speech, with winning sway, 
Wiled the old harper's mood away. 
With such a look as hermits throw, 
When angels stoop to soothe their woe, 
He gazed, till fond regret and pride 
Thrill'd to a tear, then thus replied : 
*' Loveliest and best ! thou little know'st 
The rank, the honors, thou hast lost ! 

1 MS. : " No blither dew-drop cheers the rose." 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 71 

O might I live to see thee grace, 
In Scotland's court, thy birth-right place. 
To see my favorite's step advance,' 
The lightest in the courtly dance, 
The cause of every gallant's sigh. 
And leading star of every eye, 
And theme of every minstrel's art, 
The Lady of the Bleeding Heart ! " ^ 

XL 

"Fair dreams are these," the maiden cried, 
(Light was her accent, yet she sighed ;) 
" Yet is this mossy rock to me 
Worth splendid chair and canopy ; ^ 
Nor would my footsteps spring more gay 
In courtly dance than blithe strathspey, 
Nor half so pleased mine ear incline 
To royal minstrel's lay as thine. 
And then for suitors proud and high. 
To bend before my conquering eye, — 
Thou, flattering bard ! thyself wilt say, 
That grim Sir Roderick owns its sway. 
The Saxon scourge, Clan-Alpine's pride, 
The terror of Loch Lomond's side, 
Would, at my suit, thou know'st, delay 
A Lennox foray — for a day." 

* This couplet is not in the MS. 

2 The well-known cognizance of the Douglas family, 
^ MS. : "This mossy rock, my friend, to me 
Is worth gay chair and canopy." 



72 THE LADY OF THE LAKE [Canto II. 

XII. 

The ancient bard her glee repress'd : 
*' 111 hast thou chosen theme for jest ! 
For who, through all this western wild, 
Named Black Sir Roderick e'er, and smiled ! 
In Holy-Rood a knight he slew ; ' 
I saw, when back the dirk he drew. 
Courtiers give place before the stride 
Of the undaunted homicide ; "" 
And since, though outlaw'd, hath his hand, 
Full sternly kept his mountain land. 
Who else dare give — ah ! woe the day,^ 
That I such hated truth should say — 
The Douglas, like a stricken deer, 
Disown'd by every noble peer,^ 
Even the rude refus-e we have here .^ 



1 See Appendix, Note C. 

" MS. : "Courtiers gave place with heartless stride 
Of the retiring homicide." 

2 MS. : " Who else dared own the kindred claim 

That bound him to \.\\y mother's name } 

Who else dared give," etc. 
* The exiled state of this powerful race is not exaggerated in this 
and subsequent passages. The hatred of James against the race of 
Douglas was so inveterate that, numerous as their allies were, and 
disregarded as the regal authority had usually been in similar cases, 
their nearest friends, even in the most remote parts of Scotland, 
durst not entertain them, unless under the strictest and closest 
disguise. James Douglas, son of the banished Earl of Angus, after- 
wards well known by the title of Earl of Morton, lurked, during the 
exile of his family, in the north of Scotland, under the assumed 
name of James Innes, otherwise yamcs the Grieve (/. e., Reve or 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 73 

Alas, this wild marauding Chief 

Alone might hazard our relief, 

And now thy maiden charms expand, 

Looks for his guerdon in thy hand ; 

Full soon may dispensation sought, 

To back his suit from Rome be brought. 

Then, though an exile on the hill, 

Thy father, as the Douglas, still 

Be held in reverence and fear ; 

And though to Roderick thou'rt so dear, 

That thou mightst guide with silken thread, 

Slave of thy will, this chieftain dread ; 

Yet, O loved maid, thy mirth refrain ! 

Thy hand is on a lion's mane." — 

XIIL 

" Minstrel," the maid replied, and high 
Her father's soul glanced from her eye, 
" My debts to Roderick's house I know : 
All that a mother could bestow. 
To Lady Margaret's care I owe, 
Since first an orphan in the wild 
She sorrow'd o'er her sister's child ; 

Bailiff). "And as he bore the name," says Godscroft, " so did he 
also execute the office of a grieve or overseer of the lands and rents, 
the corn and cattle of him with whom he lived." From the habits 
of frugality and observation which he acquired in his humble situa- 
tion, the historian traces that intimate acquaintance with popular 
character, which enabled him to rise so high in the state, and that 
honorable economy by which he repaired and established tiiei 
shattered estates of Angus and ^loxiow.— History of the House of 
Douglas, Edinburgh, 1743. vol. ii, p. 160. 



74 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto H- 

To her brave chieftain son, from ire 
Of Scotland's king who shrouds my sire. 
A deeper, hoUer debt is owed ; 
And, could I pay it with my blood, 
Allan ! Sir Roderick should command 
My blood, my life, — but not my hand. 
Rather will Ellen Douglas dwell 
A votaress in Maronnan's cell ;' 
Rather through realms beyond the sea, 
Seeking the world's cold charity. 
Where ne'er was spoke a Scottish word, 
And ne'er the name of Douglas heard. 
An outcast pilgrim will she rove, 
Than wed the man she cannot love.^ 

. XIV. 

*'Thou shakest, good friend, thy tresses gray — 
That pleading look, what can if say 
But what I own ? — I grant him brave. 
But wild as Bracklinn's thundering wave ;3 

1 The parish of Kihnaronock, at the eastern extremity of Loch- 
Lomond, derives its name from a cell or chapel, dedicated to Saint 
Maronoch, or Marnoch, or Maronnan, about whose sanctity very 
little is now remembered. There is a fountain devoted to him in 
the same parish ; but its virtues, like the merits of its patron, have 
fallen into oblivion. 

2 " Ellen is most exquisitely drawn, and could not have been 
improved by contrast. She is beautiful, frank, affectionate, rational, 
and playful, combining the innocence of a child with the elevated 
sentiments and courage of a heroine." — Quarterly Revieiv. 

^ This is a beautiful cascade made by a mountain stream called 
the Keltic, at a place called the Bridge of Bracklinn, about a mile 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 75 

And generous — save vindictive mood, 
Or jealous transport, chafe his blood : 
I grant him true to friendly band, 
As his claymore is to his hand ; 
But O ! that very blade of steel 
More mercy for a foe would feel : 
I grant him liberal, to fling 
Among his clan the wealth they bring, 
When back by lake and glen they wind, 
And in the Lowland leave behind, 
Where once some pleasant hamlet stood, 
A mass of ashes slaked with blood. 
The hand that for my father fought, 
I honor, as his daughter ought ; 
But can I clasp it reeking red, 
From peasants slaughter'd in their shed ? 
No ! wildly while his virtues gleam, 
They make his passions darker seem. 
And flash along his spirit high, 
Like lightning o'er the midnight sky. 
While yet a child, — and children know, 
Instinctive taught, the friend and foe, ■ — 
I shudder'd at his brow of gloom, 
His shadowy plaid, and sable plume ! 



from the village of Callendar in Menteith. Above a chasm, where 
the brook precipitates itself from a height of at least fifty feet, there 
is. thrown, for the convenience of the neighborhood, a rustic foot- 
bridge, of about three feet in breadth, and without ledges, which 
is scarcely to be crossed by a stranger without awe and appre* 
hension. 



^6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canxq tl. 



A maiden grown, I ill could bear 

His haughty mien and lordly air ; 

But, if thou join'st a suitor's claim. 

In serious mood, to Roderick's name, 

I thrill with anguish ! or, if e'er 

A Douglas knew the word, with fear. 

To change such odious theme were best, — 

What think'st thou of our stranger guest ? " 

XV. 

*'What think I of him } — woe the while 
That brought such wanderer to our isle ! 
Thy father's battle-brand, of yore 
For Tine-man forged by fairy lore,' 
What time he leagued, no longer foes, 
His Border spears with Hotspur's bows, 
Did, self-unscabbarded, foreshow 
The footstep of a secret foe.^ 

' Archibald, the third Earl of Douglas, was so unfortunate in all 
his enterprises, that he acquired the epithet of Tine-man, because 
he tined^ or lost, his followers in every battle which he fought. He 
was vanquished, as every reader must remember, in the bloody 
battle of Homildon-hill, near Wooler, where he himself lost an eye, 
and was made prisoner by Hotspur. He was no less unfortunate 
when allied with Percy, being wounded and taken at the battle ot 
Shrewsbury. He was so unsuccessful in an attempt to besiege 
Roxburgh Castle, that it was called the Foul Raid, or disgraceful 
expedition. His ill fortune left him indeed at the battle of Beaug^, 
in France ; but it was only to return with double emphasis at the 
subsequent action of Vernoil, the last and most unlucky of his 
encounters, in which he fell, with the flower of the Scottish chivalry, 
then serving as auxiliaries in France, and about two thousand com 
mon soldiers, A. D. 1424. 

■^ See Appendix, Note D. 



Canto II. | THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 7/ 

If courtly spy hath harbor'd here, 

What may we for the Dougla^ fear ? 

What for this island, deem'd of old 

Clan-Alpine's last and surest hold ? 

If neither spy nor foe, I pray 

What yet may jealous Roderick say? 

— Nay, wave not thy disdainful head, 

Bethink thee of the discord dread 

That kindled, when at Beltane game 

Thou ledst the dance with Malcolm Graeme ; 

Still, though thy sire the peace renew'd, 

Smoulders in Roderick's breast the feud ; 

Beware ! — But hark, what sounds are these ? ' 

My dull ears catch no faltering breeze, 

No weeping birch, nor aspens wake, 

Nor breath is dimpling in the lake, 

Still is the canna's^ hoary beard, 

Yet, by my minstrel faith, I heard — 

And hark again ! some pipe of war 

Sends the bold pibroch from afar." 

XVI. 

Far up the lengthen'd lake were spied 
Four darkening specks upon the tide, 
That, slow enlarging on the view. 
Four mann'd and masted barges grew, 

' "The moving picture — the effect of the sounds — and the wild 
character and strong peculiar nationality of the whole procession, 
are given with inimitable spirit and power of expression." — ^Jeffrey 

^ Cotton-grass. 



7^ THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto II. 

And, bearing downwards from Glengyle, 

Steer'd full upon the lonely isle ; 

The point of Brianchoil they pass'd, 

And, to the windward as they cast, 

Against the sun they gave to shine 

The bold Sir Roderick's banner'd Pine. 

Nearer and nearer as they bear, 

Spear, pikes, and axes flash in air. 

Now might you see the tartans brave. 

And plaids and plumage dance and wave : 

Now see the bonnets sink and rise. 

As his tough oar the rower plies ; 

See, flashing at each sturdy stroke, 

The wave ascending into smoke ; 

See the proud pipers on the bow, 

And mark the gaudy streamers flow 

From their loud chanters ' down, and sweep 

The furrow'd bosom of the deep, 

As, rushing through the lake amain, 

They plied the ancient Highland striin. 

XVII. 

Ever, as on they bore, more loud 
And louder rung the pibroch proud. 
At first the sound, by distance tame, 
Mellow'd along the waters came. 
And, lingering long by cape and bay 
Wail'd every harsher note away; 

1 The pi^e of the bagpipe. 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 79 

Then, bursting bolder on the ear, 

The clan's shrill Gathering they could hear ; 

Those thrilling sounds, that call the might 

Of old Clan-Alpine to the fight. ^ 

Thick beat the rapid notes, as when 

The mustering hundreds shak'e the glen, 

And hurrying at the signal dread. 

The batter'd earth returns their tread, 

Then prelude light, of livelier tone, 

Express'd their merry marching on. 

Ere peal of closing battle rose. 

With mingled outcry, shrieks, and blows ; 

A mimic din of stroke and ward. 

As broadsword upon target jarr'd ; 

And groaning pause, ere yet again, 

Condensed, the battle yell'd amain ; 

The rapid charge, the rallying shout, 

Retreat borne headlong into rout, 

And bursts of triumph, to declare 

Clan-Alpine's conquest — all \vere there. 

^ The connoisseurs in pipe-music affect to discover in a well- 
composed pibroch, the imitative sounds of march, conflict, fight, 
pursuit and all the "current of a heady fight." To this opinion 
Dr. Beattie has given his suffrage, in the folloAving elegant passage : 
^^ Apibroch is a species of tune, peculiar, I think, to the Highlands 
and Western Isles of Scotland. It is performed on a bagpipe, and 
differs totally from all other music. Its rjthm is so irregular, and 
its notes, especially in the quick movement, so mixed and huddled 
together that a stranger finds it impossible to reconcile his ear to it, 
so as to perceive its modulation. Some of these pibrochs, being 
intended to represent a battle, begin with a grave motion resembling 
a march; then gradually quicken into the onset; run off with noisy 



80 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto II. 

Nor ended thus the strain ; but slow 
Sunk in a moan prolong'd and low, 
And changed the conquering clarion swell. 
For wild lament o'er those that fell. 

XVIII. 

The war-pipes ceased ; but lake and hill 
Were busy with their echoes still ; 
And when they slept, a vocal strain 
Bade their hoarse chorus wake again, 
While loud a hundred clansmen raise 
Their voices in their Chieftain's praise. 
Each boatman, bending to his oar, 
With measured sweep the burden bore, 
In such wild cadence, as the breeze 
Makes through December's leafless trees. 
The chorus first could Allan know, 
'' Roderick Vich Alpine, ho ! iro ! " 
And near, and nearer as they row'd, 
Distinct the martial ditty flow'd. 

XIX. 

BOAT SONG. 

Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances ! 
Honor'd and bless'd be the ever-green Pine ! 

confusion, and turbulent rapidity, to imitate the conflict and pursuit; 
then swell into a few flourishes of triumphant joy; and perhaps 
close with the wild and low wailings of a funeral procession." — 
Essay on Laughter and Ludicrous Compcsition, chap. iii. Note. 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 8l 

Long may the tree, in his banner that glances, 
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line ! 

Heaven send it happy dew, 

Earth lend it sap anew, 
Gayly to bourgeon, and broadly to grow, 

While every Highland glen 

Send our shout back agen, 
"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe!" * 

Ours is no sapling, chance-sown by the fountain, 

Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade ; 
When the whirlwind has stripp'd every leaf on the 
mountain, 
The more shall Clan-Alpine exult in her shade. 
Moor'd in the rifted rock. 
Proof to the tempest's shock, 



' Besides his ordinary name and surname, which were chiefly 
used in the intercourse with the Lowlands, everj Highland chief 
had an epithet expressive of his patriarchal dignity as head of the 
clan, and which was common to all his predecessors and successors, 
as Pharaoh to the kings of Egypt, or Arsaces to those of Parthia. 
This name was usually a patronymic, expressive of his descent frorr. 
the founder of the family. Thus the Duke of Argyle is called Mac- 
Galium More, or the soti of Colin the Great. Sometimes, however, 
1 is derived from armorial distinctions, or the memory of some 
^reat feat; thus Lord Seaforth, as chief of the Mackenzies, or Clan- 
Kennet, bears the epithet of Caber-fae, or Buck's Head, as repre- 
sentative of Colin Fitzgerald, founder of the family, who saved the 
Scottish king when endangered by a stag. But besides this title, 
A^hich belonged to his office and dignity, the chieftain had usually 
mother peculiar to himself, which distinguished him from the 
:hieftains- of the same race. This was sometimes derived from 
omplexion, as dhu or roy ; sometimes from size, as beg ox more ; at 



82 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto U 

Firmer he roots him the ruder it blows ; 

Menteith and Breadalbane, then, 

Echo his praise agam, 
'* Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! " 



XX. 

Proudly our pibroch has thrill'd in Glen Fruin, 

And Bannachar's groans to our slogan replied ; 
Glen Lus and Ross-dhu, they are smoking in ruin, 
And the best of Loch-Lomond lie dead on her side.* 

Widow and Saxon maid 

Long shall lament our raid, 
Think of Clan-Alpine with fear and with woe ; 

Lennox and Leven-glen 

Shake when they hear again, 
" Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! " 

Row, vassals, row for the pride of the Highlands 
Stretch to your oars, for the ever-green Pine ! 

other times, from some peculiar exploit, or from some peculiarity 
of habit or appearance. The line of the text therefore signifies, 

Black Roderick, the descendant of Alpine. 

The song itself is intended as an imitation of ihejorrams, or boat- 
songs of the Highlanders, M^iich were usually composed in honor of 
a favorite chief. They are so adapted as to keep time with the sweep 
of the oars, and it is easy to distinguish between those intended to 
be sung to the oars of a galley, where the stroke is lengthened and 
doubled, as it were, and those which were timed to the rowers of an 
ordinary boat. 

1 See Appendix, Note E. 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 83 

O ! that the rose-bud that graces yon islands, 
Were wreathed in a garland around him to twine. 

O, that some seedling gem, 

Worthy such noble stem, 
Honor'd and blessed in their shadow might grow ! 

Loud should Clan-Alpine then 

Ring from her deepest glen, 
"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! " ' 



XXI. 

With all her joyful female band, 
Had Lady Margaret sought the strand. 
Loose on the breeze their tresses flew. 
And high their snowy arms they threw. 
As echoing back with shrill acclaim, 
And chorus wild, the Chieftain's name ; ^ 
While, prompt to please, with mother's art, 
The darling passion of his heart, 
The Dame called Ellen to the strand 
To greet her kinsman ere he land : 
" Come, loiterer, come ! a Douglas thou. 
And shun to wreathe a victor's brow 1 " — 



1 «' However we may dislike the geographical song and chorus, 
half English and half Erse, which is sung in praise of the warrior, 
we must allow that, in other respects, the hero of a poem has 
.<;eldom, if ever, been introduced with finer effect, or in a manner 
better calculated to excite the expectations of the reader, than on the* 
oresent occasion." — Critical Revierv. 

^ MS. : " T/ie chorus to the chif ftain's fame,'' 



84 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto H. 

Reluctantly and slow, the maid 

The unwelcome summoning obey'd, 

And, when a distant bugle rung. 

In the mid-path aside she sprung : — 

" List, Allan-Bane ! From mainland cast, 

I hear my father's signal blast. 

Be ours," she cried, ''the skiff to guide, 

And waft him from the mountain-side." 

Then, like a sunbeam, swift and bright, 

She darted to her shallop light, 

And, eagerly while Roderick scann'd, 

For her dear form, his mother's band, 

The islet far behind her lay, 

And she had landed in the bay. 



XXII. 

Some feelings are to mortals giv^en, 
With less of earth in them than heaven : 
And if there be a human tear 
From passion's dross refined and clea^, 
A tear so limpid and so meek. 
It would not stain an angel's cheek, 
'Tis that which pious fathers shed 
Upon a duteous daughter's head ! 
And as the Douglas to his breast 
His darling Ellen closely press'd, 
Such holy drops her tresses steep'd, 
Though 'twas an hero's eye that weep'd. 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 85 



Nor while on Ellen's faltering tongue ' 
Her filial welcomes crowded hung, 
Mark'd she, that fear (affection's proof) 
Still held a graceful youth aloof; 
No ! not till Douglas named his name, 
Although the youth was Malcolm Graeme. 

XXIII. 

Allan, with wistful look the while, 

Mark'd Roderick landing on the isle ; 

His master piteously he eyed, 

Then gazed upon the Chieftain's pride. 

Then dash'd, with hasty hand, away 

From his dimm'd eye the gathering spray ; 

And Douglas, as his hand he laid 

On Malcolm's shoulder, kindly said, 

" Canst thou, young friend, no meaning spy 

In my poor follower's glistening eye ? 

I'll tell thee : he recalls the day, 

When in my praise he led the lay 

O'er the arch'd gate of Bothwell proud, 

While many a minstrel answer'd loud. 



* MS. : '• Nor while on Ellen's faltering tongue 
Her filial greetings eager hung, 
Mark'd jiot that mve (affection's proof) 
Still held v^;^ gentle vouth aloof; 
No! not till Douglas named his name. 
Although the youth was Malcolm Graeme. 
Then xvitk flushed cheek and dozujicasf eye. 
Their greeting ivas confused a?id shy." 



S6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IL 

When Percy's Norman j^ennon won 

hi bloody field before me shone, 

And twice ten knights, the least a name 

As mighty as yon Chief may claim, 

Gracing my pomp, behind me came. 

Yet trust me, Malcolm, not so proud 

Was I of all that marshall'd crowd. 

Though the waned crescent own'd my might, 

And in my train troop'd lord and knight. 

Though Blantyre hymn'd her holiest lays 

And Bothwell's bards flung back my praise 

As when this old man's silent tear, 

And this poor maid's affection dear, 

A welcome give more kind and true. 

Than aught my better fortunes knew 

Fv^rgive, my friend, a father's boast, 

O ! it out-beggars all I lost ! " 

XXIV. 

Delightful praise ! — Like summer rose. 
That brighter in the dew-drop glows. 
The bashful maiden's cheek appear'd. 
For Douglas spoke, and Malcolm heard. 
The flush of shame-faced joy to hide. 
The hounds, the hawk, her cares divide ; 
The loved caresses of the maid 
The dogs with crouch and whimper paid ; * 

* MS. : " The dogs ivitJi 7vhi7n;per{vff notes repaid." 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. S7 

And, at her whistle, on her hand 
The falcon took his favorite stand, 
Closed his dark wing, relax'd his eye, 
Nor, though unhooded, sought to fly. 
And, trust, while in such guise she stood, 
Like fabled Goddess of the Wood, ' 
That if a father's partial thought 
O'erweigh'd her worth and beauty aught. 
Well might the lover's judgment fail 
To balance with a juster scale ; 
For with each secret glance he stole, 
The fond enthusiast sent his soul. 

XXV. 

Of stature tall, and slender frame, 

But firmly knit, was Malcolm Graeme, 

The belted plaid and tartan hose 

Did ne'er more graceful limbs disclose ; 

His flaxen hair of sunny hue, 

Curl'd closely round his bonnet blue. 

Train'd to the chase, his eagle eye 

The ptarmigan in snow could spy : 

Each pass, by mountain, lake, and heath, 

He knew, through Lennox and Menteith : 

Vain was the bound of dark-brown doe, 

When Malcolm bent his sounding bow, 

And scarce that doe, though wing'd with fear, 

Outstripp'd in speed the mountaineer : 

IMS.: " Like fabled /^w/i/r^.r^ of the wood." 



S8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto II. 

Right up Ben Lomond could he press> 
And not a sob his toil confess. 
His form accorded with a mind 
Lively and ardent, frank and kind ; 
A blither heart till Ellen came, 
Did never love or sorrow tame ; 
It dr.nced as lightsome in his breast, 
As play'd the feather on his crest. 
Yet friends who nearest knew the youth, 
His scorn of wrong, his zeal for truth, 
And bards, who saw his features bold 
When kindled by the tales of old. 
Said, were that youth to manhood grow 
Not long should Roderick Dhu's renown 
Be foremost voiced by mountain fame, 
But quail to that of Malcolm Graeme. 

XXVI. 

Now back they wend their watery way, 

And, '' O my sire ! " did Ellen say, 

" Why urge thy chase so far astray ? 

And why so late return'd .-* And why '' - 

The rest was in her speaking eye. 

" My child, the chase I follow far, 

'Tis mimicry of noble war ; 

And with that gallant pastime reft 

Were all of Douglas I have left. 

I met young Malcolm as I stray'd, 

Far eastward, in Glenfinlas' shade. 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 89 

Nor stray'd I safe ; for, all around, 
Hunters and horsemen scour'd the ground, 
This youth, though still a royal ward, 
Risk'd life and land to be my guard. 
And through the passes of the wood 
Guided my steps, not unpursued ; 
And Roderick shall his welcome make, 
Despite old spleen, for Douglas' sake. 
Then must he seek Strath-Endrick glen, 
Nor peril aught for me agen." 



XXVII. 

Sir Roderick, who to meet them came, 
Redden'd at sight of Malcolm Graeme, 
Yet, not in action, word, or eye, 
Fail'd aught in hospitality. 
In talk and sport they whiled away 
The morning of that summer day ; 
But at high-noon a courier light 
Held secret parley with the knight, 
Whose moody aspect soon declared. 
That evil were the news he heard. 
Deep thought seem'd toiling in his head; 
Yet was the evening banquet made. 
Ere he assembled round the flame, 
His mother, Douglas, and the Graeme, 
And Ellen, too ; then cast around 
His eyes, then fixed them on the ground. 



90 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I Canto U 

As studying phrase that might avail 
Best to convey unpleasant tale. 
"Long with his dagger's hilt he play'd, 
Then raised his haughty brow, and said : 



XXVIII. 

•* Short be my speech ; — nor time affords, 
Nor my plain temper, glozing words. 
Kinsman and father, — if such name 
Douglas vouchsafe to Roderick's claim ; 
Mine honor'd mother; — Ellen — why, 
My cousin, turn away thine eye t — 
And Graeme ; in whom I hope to know 
Full soon a noble friend or foe, 
When age shall give thee thy command, 
And leading in thy native land, — 
List all ! — The King's vindictive pride 
Boasts to have tamed the border side.' 



* In 1529, James V. made a convention at Edinburgh for the 
purpose of considering the best mode of quelling the Border robbers," 
who, during the license of his minority, and the troubles which 
followed, had committed many exorbitances. Accordingly, he 
assembled a flying army of ten thousand men, consistmg of his 
principal nobility and their followers, who were directed to bring 
their hawks and dogs with them, that the monarch might refresh 
himself with sport during the intervals of military execution. With 
this array he swept through Ettrick Forest, where he hanged over 
the gate of his own castle Piers Cockburn of Henderland, who had 
prepared, according to tradition, a feast for his reception. He 
caused Adam Scott of Tushielaw also to be executed, who was 
distinguished by the title of King of the Border. But the most 
noted victim of justice during that expedition was John Armstrong 



CANTO II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. Qi 



Where chiefs, with hound and hawk who came, 

To share their monarch's sylvan game, 

Themselves in bloody toils were snared ; 

And when the banquet they prepared, 

And wide their loyal portals flung. 

O'er their own gateway struggling hung. 

Loud cries their blood from Meggat's mead, 

From Yarrow braes, and banks of Tweed, 

Where the lone streams of Ettrick glide, 

And from the silver Teviot's side ; 

The dales, w^here martial clans did ride,' 

Are now one sheep-walk, waste and wide. 

This tyrant of the Scottish throne. 

So faithless, and so ruthless known, 

Now hither comes ; his end the same. 

The same pretext of sylvan game. 

What grace for Highland Chiefs, judge ye 

By fate of Border chivalry." 

cfGilnockie,* famous in Scottish song, who, confiding in his own 
supposed innocencf;, met the King, with a retinue of thirtj-six 
persons, all of whom were hanged at Carlenrig, near the source of 
the Teviot. The eftect of this severity was such, that, as the vulgar 
expressed it, "the rush-bush kept the cow," and, " thereafter was 
great peace and rest for a long time, wherethrough the King had 
great profit; for he had ten thousand sheep going in the Ettrick 
Forest in keeping by Andrew Bell, who made the King as gone' 
count of them as they had gone in the bounds of Fife."— Pits- 
COTTIe's History, p. 153. 

^ MS. : "The dales where clans were wont to bide." 
2 James was in fact equally attentive to restrain rapine and feudal 
oppression in every part of his dominions. "The King past to the 
Isles, and there held justice courts, and punished both thief and 

* See Border Minstrelsy, vol. i, p. 393. 



92 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto 11 

Yet more ; amid Glenfinlas green, 
Douglas, thy stately form was seen. 
This by espial sure I know ; 
Your counsel in the streight I show." 

XXIX. 

Ellen and Margaret fearfully 
Sought comfort in each other's eye, 
Then turn'd their ghastly look, each one, 
This to her sire, that to her son. 
The hasty color went and came 
In the bold cheek of Malcolm Graeme ; 
But from his glance it well appear'd, 
'Twas but for Ellen that he fear'd ; 
While, sorrowful, but undismay'd. 
The Douglas thus his counsel said : 
"Brave Roderick, though the tempest roar. 
It may but thunder and pass o'er ; 

traitor according to their demerit. And also he caused great men 
to show their holdings, wherethrough he found many of the said 
lands in non-entry; the which he confiscate and brought home to 
his own use, and afterward annexed them to the crown, as je shall 
hear. Sjme brought manj^ of the great men of the Isles captive with 
him, such as Mudvart, M'Connel, M'Leod of the Lewes, M'Neil, 
M'Lane, M'Intosh, John Mudyart, M'Kay, M'Kenzie, with many 
other that I cannot rehearse at this time. Some of them he put ii. 
ward and some in court, and some he took pledges for good rule in 
thne coming'- So he brought the Isles, both north and south, in 
good rule and peace ; wherefore he had great profit, service, and 
obedience of people a long time thereafter; and as long as he had 
the heads of the country in subjection, they lived in great peace and 
rest, and there was great riches and policy by the King's justice." — 

PiTSCOTTIE, p. 152. 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 93 



Nor will I here remain an hour, 
To draw the lightning on thy bower ; 
For well thou know'st, at this gray head 
The royal bolt were fiercest sped. 
For thee, who, at thy King's command, 
Canst aid him with a gallant band. 
Submission, homage, humbled pride. 
Shall turn the Monarch's wrath aside. 
Poor remnants of the Bleeding Heart, 
Ellen and I will seek^ apart. 
The refuge of some forest cell. 
There, like the hunted quarry, dwell. 
Till on the mountain and the moor. 
The stern pursuit be pass'd and o'er." 



XXX. 

**No, by mine honor," Roderick said, 

'' So help me, Heaven, and my good blade ! 

No, never ! Blasted be yon Pine, 

My fathers' ancient crest and mine, 

If from its shade in danger part 

The lineage of the Bleeding Heart ! 

Hear my blunt speech ; grant me this maid 

To wife, thy counsel to mine aid ; 

To Douglas, ^eagued with Roderick Dhu, 

Will friends and allies flock enow ; 

Like cause of doubt, distrust, and grief, 

Will bind to us each Western Chief. 



94 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IL 

When the loud pipes my bridal tell, 
The Links of Forth shall hear the knell, 
The guards shall start in Stirling's porch ; 
And, when I light the nuptial torch, 
A thousand villages in flames, 
Shall scare the slumbers of King James! 
— Nay, Ellen, blench not thus away, 
And, mother, cease these signs, I pray ; 

1 meant not all my heat might say. 
Small need of inroad, or of fight. 
When the sage Douglas may unite 
Each mountain clan in friendly band, 
To guard the passes of their land, 
Till the foil'd king from pathless glen,' 
Shall bootless turn him home agen." 

XXXI. 

There are who have at midnight hour. 

In slumber scaled a dizzy tower, 

And on the verge that beetled o'er 

The ocean tide's incessant roar, 

Dream'd calmly out their dangerous dream,^ 

Till waken'd by the morning beam ; 

When, dazzled by the eastern glow, 

Such startler cast his glance below, 

And saw unmeasured depth around. 

And heard unintermitted sound, 

' MS. : "Till the foil'd king, from hill and glen." 

2 MS. : "Dream'd calmly out their desperate dream.' 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 95 

And thought the battled fence so frail 

It waved like cobweb in the gale ; — 

Amid his senses' giddy wheel, 

Did he not desperate impulse feel, 

Headlong to plunge himself below. 

And meet the worst his fears foreshow ?-=— 

Thus, Ellen, dizzy and astound, 

As sudden ruin yawned around. 

By crossing terrors wildly toss'd. 

Still for the Douglas fearing most. 

Could scarce the desperate thought withstand, 

To buy his safety with her hand. 



XXXII. 

Such purpose dread could Malcolm spy 
In Ellen's quivering lip and eye. 
And eager rose to speak — but ere 
His tongue could hurry forth his fear. 
Had Douglas mark'd the hectic strife. 
Where death seem'd combating with life ; 
For to her cheek, in feverish flood. 
One instant rush'd the throbbing blood, 
Then ebbing back, with sudden sway, 
Left its domain as wan as clay. 
" Roderick, enough ! enough !" he cried, 
" My daughter cannot be thy bride ; 
Not that the blush to wooer dear. 
Nor paleness that of maiden fear, 



96 THE LADY OF THE LAKE [Canto II. 

It may not be — forgive her, Chief, 
Nor hazard aught for our rehef. 
Against his sovereign, Douglas ne'er 
Will level a rebellious spear. 
'Twas I that taught his youthful hand 
To rein a steed and wield a brand ; 
I see him yet, the princely boy ! 
Not Ellen more my pride and joy ; 
I love him still, despite my wrongs. 
By hasty wrath, and slanderous tongues. 
O seek the grace you well may find, 
Without a cause to mine combined." 



XXXIII. 

Twice through the hall the Chieftain strode ; 
The waving of his tartans broad. 
And darken'd brow, where wounded pride 
With ire and disappointment vied, 
Seem'd, by the torch's gloomy light, 
Like the ill demon of the night. 
Stooping his pinions' shadowy sway 
Upon the nighted pilgrim's way ; 
Rut, unrequited Love ! thy dart 
Plunged deepest its envenom'd smart. 
And Roderick, with thine anguish stung, 
At length the hand of Douglas wrung, 
While eyes, that mock'd at tears before. 
With bitter drops were running o'er. 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 97 

The death-pangs of long-cherish'd hope 
Scarce in that ample breast had scope, 
But, struggling with his spirit proud, 
Convulsive heaved its checker'd shroud, 
While every sob — so mute were all — 
Was heard distinctly through the hall. 
The son's desj^air, the mother's look, 
111 might the gentle Ellen brook ; 
She rose, and to her side there came, 
To aid her parting steps, the Graeme. 



XXXIV. 

Then Roderick from the Douglas broke— = 
As flashes flame through sable smoke. 
Kindling its wreaths, long, dark, and low 
To one broad blaze of ruddy glow, 
So the deep anguish of despair ' 
Burst, in fierce jealousy, to air. 
With stalwart grasp his hand he laid 
On Malcolm's breast and belted plaid ; 
"■ Back, beardless boy ! " he sternly said, 
" Back, minion ! hold'st thou thus at naught 
The lesson I so lately taught } 
This roof, the Douglas, and that maid, 
Thank thou for punishment delay'd." 

^ MS. : "The deep-toned anguish of despair 
Flush'd, in fierce jealousy, to air." 



98 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IL 

Eager as greyhound on his game, 

Fiercely with Roderick grappled Graeme.^ 

^* Perish my name, if aught afford 

Its Chieftain safety save his sword ! " 

Thus as they strove, their desperate hand^ 

Griped to the dagger or the brand, 

And death had been — but Douglas rose. 

And thrust between the struggling foes 

His giant strength : — ''Chieftains, forego ! 

I hold the first who strikes, my foe." ^ 

Madmen, forbear your frantic jar ! 

What ! is the Douglas fall'n so far, 

His daughter's hand is deem'd the spoil 

Of such dishonorable broil !" 

Sullen and slowly, they unclasp,^ 

As struck with shame, their desperate grasp. 

And each upon his rival glared. 

With foot advanced and blade half bared. 

1 " There is something foppish and out of character in Malcolm's 
rising to lead out Ellen from her own parlor; and the sort of wrest- 
ling match that takes place between the rival chieftains on the 
occasion is humiliating and indecorous." — Jeffrey. 

2 MS. : "Thus, as they strove, each better hand 

Grasfd for the dagger or the brand." 

3 The author has to apologize for the inadvertent appropriation 
of a whole line from the tragedy of Douglas, 

*' 1 hold the first who strikes, my foe." 

— Note io the Second Edition. 

* MS. : " Sullen and slow the rivals bold 

Loos'd at his best their desperate hold, 
But either still on other glar'd," etc. 



Canto IL] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 99 



XXXV. 

Ere yet the brands aloft were flung, 
Margaret on Roderick's mantle hung, 
And Malcolm heard his Ellen's scream, 
As falter'd through terrific dream. 
Then Roderick plunged in sheath his swordj 
And veil'd his wrath in scornful word. 
" Rest safe till morning ; pity 'twere 
Such cheek should feel the midnisfht air ! ^ 



' Hardihood was in every respect so essential to the character of 
a Highlander, that the reproach of effeminacy was the most bitter 
which could be thrown upon him. Yet it was sometimes hazarded 
on what we might presume to think slight grounds. It is reported 
of old Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, when upwards of seventy, that 
he was surprised by night on a hunting or military expedition. 
He wrapped him in his plaid, and lay contentedly down upon the 
snow, with which the ground happened to be covered. Among his 
attendants, who were preparing to take their rest in the same man- 
ner, he observed that one of his grandsons, for his better accommo- 
dation, had rolled a large snow-ball, and placed it below his head. 
The wrath of the ancient chief v/as awakened by a symptom of what 
he conceived to be degenerate luxury. " Out upon thee," said he, 
kicking the frozen bolster from the head which it supported; " art 
thou so effeminate as to need a pillow.?" The officer of engineers, 
whose curious letters from the Highlands have been more than once 
quoted, tells a similar story of Macdonald of Keppoch, and subjoins 
the following remarks: — "This and many other stories are ro- 
mantick; but there is one thing, that at first thought might seem 
very romantick, of which I have been credibly assured, that when 
the Highlanders are constrained to lie among the hills, in cold, dry 
windy weather, they sometimes soak the plaid in some river or burn 
(/. e. brook), and then holding up a corner of it a little above their 
heads, they turn themselves round and round, till they are enveloped 
by the whole mantle. They then lay themselves down on the heath, 
upon the leeward side of some hill, where the wet and the warmth of 



lOO THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto U 

Then mayest thou to James Stewart tell 
Roderick will keep the lake and fell, 
Nor lackey, with his freeborn clan, 
The pageant pomp of earthly man. 
More would he of Clan-Alpine know, 
Thou canst our strength and passes show. 
Malise, w^hat ho !" — his henchman came;' 
"Give our safe-conduct to the Graeme." 



their bodies make a steam, like that of a boiling kettle. The wet, 
they say, keeps them wai-m by thickening the stuff, and keeping the 
wind from penetrating. I must confess I should have been apt to 
question this fact, had I not frequently seen them wet from morning 
to night, and, even at the beginning of the rain, not so much as stir 
a few yards to shelter, but continue in it without necessity, till they 
were, as we say, wet through and through. And that is soon effected 
by the looseness and spunginess of the plaiding; but the bonnet is 
frequently taken off and wrung like a dishclout, and then put on 
again. They have been accustomed from their infancy to be often 
wet, and to take the water like spaniels, and this is become a second 
nature, and can scaixely be called a hardship to them, insomuch 
that I used to say, they seemed to be of the duck kind, and to love 
water as well. Though I never saw this preparation for sleep in 
windy weather, yet, setting out early in a morning from one of the 
huts, I have seen the marks of their lodging, where the ground has 
been free from rime or snow, which remained all round the spot 
where they had lain." — Letters from Scotland, Lond., 1754, 8vo, 
ij, p. 108. 

^ "This officer is a sort of secretary, and is to be ready, upon 
all occasions, to venture his life in defence of his master; and at 
drinking-bouts he stands behind his seat, at his haunch, from 
whence his title is derived, and watches the conversation, to see if 
any one offends his patron. An English officer being in company 
with a certain chieftain, and several other Highland gentlemen, 
near Kilichumen, had an argument with the great man ; and both 
being well warmed with usky,* at last the dispute grew very hot. A 
youth who was henchman, not understanding one word of English, 

* Whisky, 



Canto II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. lOI 

Young Malcolm answer'd, calm and bold^ 
" Fear nothing for thy favorite hold ; 
The spot an angel deigned to grace 
Is bless'd, though robbers haunt the place 
Thy churlish courtesy for those 
Reserve, who fear to be thy foes. 
As safe to me the mountain way 
At midnight as in blaze of day, 
Though with his boldest at his back 
Even Roderick Dhu beset the track. 
Brave Douglas, — lovely Ellen, — nay, 
Naught here of parting will I say. 
Earth does not hold a lonesome glen, 
So secret, but we meet agen. 
Chieftain ! we too shall find an hour." 
He said, and left the sylvan bower. 

XXXVI. 

Old Allan follow'd to the strand, 
(Such was the Douglas's command,) 
And anxious told, how, on the morn. 
The stern Sir Roderick deep had sworn, 

imagined his chief was insulted, and thereupon drew his pistol from 
his side, and snapped it at the officer's head ; but the pistol missed 
fire, otherwise it is more than probable he might have suffered death 
from the hand of that little vermin. But it is very disagreeable to 
an Englishman over a bottle with the Highlanders, to see every one 
of them have his gilly, that is, his servant, standing behind him, all 
the while, let what will be the subject of conversation," — Xc^^er^ 
from Scotland, ii, 159. 



i02 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IL 

The Fiery Cross should circle o'er 
Dale, glen, and valley, down, and moor. 
Much were the peril to the Graeme, 
From those who to the signal came ; 
Far up the lake 'twere safest land, 
Himself would row him to the strand, 
He gave his counsel to the wind, 
While Malcolm did, unheeding, bind, 
Round dirk and pouch and broadsword roll'd, 
His ample plaid in tighten'd fold. 
And stripp'd his limbs to such array. 
As best might suit the watery way, — 



xxxvn. 

Then spoke abrupt : " Farewell to thee, 
Pattern of old fidelity ! " 
The Minstrel's hand he kindly press'd. — 
" O ! could I point a place of rest ! 
My sovereign holds in ward my land. 
My uncle leads my vassal band ; 
To tame his foes, hi? friends to aid, 
Poor Malcolm has but heart and blade. 
Yet, if there be one faithful Graeme, 
Who loves the Chieftain of his name, 
Not long shall honored Douglas dwell, 
Like hunted stag in mountain cell ; 
Nor, ere yon pride-swoll'n robber dare, ^ 
I may not give the rest to air! 



CANTO II.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I03 

TelL Roderick Dhu, I owed him naught, 
Not the poor service o£ a boat, 
To waft me to yon mountain-side." 
Then plunged he in the flashing tide.' 
Bold o'er the flood his head he bore, 
And stoutly steer'd him from the shore ; 
And Allan strain'd his anxious eye, 
Far 'mid the lake his form to spy. 
Darkening across each puny wave. 
To which the moon her silver gave. 
Fast as the cormorant could skim, 
The swimmer plied each active limb ; 
Then landing in the moonlight dell. 
Loud shouted of his weal to tell. 
The minstrel heard the far halloo. 
And joyful from the shore withdrew. 

^ MS. : " He spoke, and plunged into the tide.'' 



CANTO THIRD. 

THE GATHERING. 

I. 

Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race of yore,' 

Who danced our infancy upon their knee, 
And told our marvelling boyhood legends store. 

Of their strange ventures happ'd by land or sea, 
How are they blotted from the things that be ! 

How few, all weak and wither' d of their force, 
Wait on the verge of dark eternity, 

Like stranded wrecks, the tide returning hoarse, 
To sweep them from our sight ! Time rolls his cease- 
less course. 
Yet live there still who can remember well. 

How, when a mountain chief his bugle blew, 
Both field and forest, dingle, cliff, and dell, 

And solitary heath, the signal knew ; 
And fast the faithful clan around him drew. 

What time the warning note was keenly wound. 



1 *' There are no separate introductions to the cantos of this poem ; 
but each of them begins with one or two stanzas in the measure of 
Spenser, usually containing some reflections connected with the 
subject about to be entered on ; and written, for the most part, with 
great tenderness and beauty. The following, we think, is among 
the most striking." — Jeffrey. 

T04 



Canto III. J THE LADY OF THE LAKE. - 105 

What time aloft their kindred banner flew, 

While clamorous war-pipes yell'd the gathering sound, 
And while the Fiery Cross glanced, like a meteor, round.'' 



II. 

The summer dawn's reflected hue 

To purple changed Loch Katrine blue ; 

Mildly and soft the western breeze 

Just kiss'd the Lake, just stirr'd the trees. 

And the pleased lake, like maiden coy, 

Trembled but dimpled not for joy ; 

The mountain-shadows on her breast 

Were neither broken nor at rest ; 

In bright uncertainty they lie. 

Like future joys to Fancy's eye. 

The water-lily to the light 

Her chalice rear'd of silver bright ; 

The doe awoke, and to the lawn, 

Begemm'd with dew drops, led her fawn ; 

The gray mist left ^ the mountain side. 

The torrent show'd its glistening pride ; 

Invisible in flecked sky. 

The lark sent down her revelry; 



1 See Appendix, Note F. 

2 MS. : "The doe awoke, and to the lawn 

Begemm'd with dewdrops, led her fawn, 
Invisible in fleecy cloud, 
The lark sent down her matins loud; 
The light mist left," etc. 



I06 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III. 

The blackbird and the speckled thrush 
Good-morrow gave from brake and bush ; * 
In answer coo'd the cushat dove 
Her notes of peace, and rest, and love. 

III. 

No thought of peace, no thought of rest, 

Assuaged the storm in Roderick's breast. 

With sheathed broadsword in his hand, 

Abrupt he paced the islet strand, 

And eyed the rising sun, and laid 

His hand on his impatient blade. 

Beneath a rock, his vassals' care ^ 

Was prompt the ritual to prepare. 

With deep and deathful meaning fraught ; 

For such Antiquity had taught 

Was preface meet, ere yet abroad 

The Cross of Fire should take its road. 

The shrinking band stood oft aghast 

At the impatient glance he cast ; — 

Such glance the mountain eagle threw, 

As, from the cliffs of Benvenue, 

She spread her dark sails on the wind, 

And, high in middle heaven, reclined, 

^ " The green hills 

Are clothed with early blossoms ; through the grass 

The quick-eyed lizard rustles, and the bills 

Of summer birds sing welcome as ye pass." — Ckilde Harold. 

^ MS. : " Hard by, his vassals' early care 
The mystic ritual prepare." 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I07 

With her broad shadow on the lake, 
Silenced the warblers of the brake. 



IV. 

A heap of wither'd boughs was piled 

Of juniper and rowan wild, 

Mingled with shivers from the oak, 

Rent by the lightning's recent stroke. 

Brian, the Hermit, by it stood, 

Barefooted, in his frock and hood. 

His grisled beard and matted hair 

Obscured a visage of despair ; 

His naked arms and legs seam'd o'er, 

The scars of frantic penance bore. 

That monk, of savage form and face,' 

The impending danger of his race 

Had drawn from deepest solitude, 

Far in Benharrow's bosom rude. 

Not his the mien of Christian priest. 

But Druid's, from the grave released. 

Whose harden'd heart and eye might brook 

On human sacrifice to look ; 

And much, 'twas said, of heathen lore 

Mix'd in the charms he mutter'd o'er. 

The -hallow'd creed gave only worse ^ 

And deadlier emphasis of curse ; 

1 See Appendix, Note G. 

2 M^. : " While th^ bless'd creed gave only worse." 



I08 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto HI. 

No peasant sought that hermit's prayer, 
His cave the pilgrim shunn'd with care, 
The eager huntsman knew his bound. 
And in mid chase call'd off his hound ; 
Or if, in lonely glen or strath, 
The desert-dweller met his path. 
He pray'd and sign'd the cross between. 
While terror took devotion's mien.' 

V. 

Of Brian's birth strange tales were told.^ 
His mother watch'd a midnight fold, 

1 MS. : " He pray'd with manj a cross between, 
And terror took devotion's mien." 

^ Tiie legend which follows is not of the author's invention. It 
i ; possible he may differ from modern critics, in supposing that the 
records of human superstition, if peculiar to, and characteristic of, 
the country in which the scene is laid, are a legitimate subject of 
poetry. He gives, however, a readj-^ assent to the narrower propo- 
sition which condemns all attempts of an irregular and disordered 
fancy to excite terror, by accumulating a train of fantastic and in- 
coherent horrors, whether borrowed from all countries, and patched 
upon a narrative belonging to one which knew them not, or derived 
from the author's own imagination. In the present case, therefore, 
I appeal to the record which I have transcribed, with the variation 
of a very few words, from the geographical collections made by the 
Laird of Macfarlane. I know not whether it be necessary to remark, 
that the miscellaneous concourse of youths and inaidens on the 
night and on the spot where the miracle is said to have taken place, 
might, even in a credulous age, have somewhat diminished the 
wonder which accompanied the conception of GilH-Doir-Magre- 
vollich. 

"There is bot two myles from Inverloghie, the church of Kil- 
malee, in Loghyeld. In ancient tymes there was ane church builded 
upon ane hill, which was above this church, which doeth now stand 
in this toune ; and ancient men doeth sav. that there was a battell 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I09 

Built deep within a dreary glen, 
Where scatter'd lay the bones of men, 
In some forgotten battle slain. 
And bleach'd by drifting wind and rain. 
It might have tamed a warrior's heart,' 
To view such mockery of his art ! 

foughten on ane litle hill not the tenth part of a mile from this 
church, be certaine men which they did not know what they were. 
And long tyme thereafter, certaine herds of that toune, and of the 
next toune, called Unnatt, both wenches and youthes, did on a tyme 
conveen with others on that Hill ; and the day being somewhat cold, 
did gather the bones of the dead men that were slayne long time 
before in that place, and did make a fire to warm them. At last 
they did all remove from the fire, except one maid or wench, which 
was verie cold, and she did remain there for a space. She being 
quyetlie her alone, without anie other companie, took up hercloaths 
above her knees, or thereby, to warm her; a wind did come and 
caste the ashes upon her, and she was conceived of ane man-chyld. 
Severall tymes thereafter she was verie sick, and at last she was 
knowne to be with chyld. And then her parents did ask at her the 
matter heiroff", which the wench could not weel answer which way 
to satisfie them. At last she resolved them with ane answer. As 
fortune fell upon her concerning this marvellous miracle, the chyld 
being borne, his name was called Gilli-Doir-Maghycvollich, that is 
to say, the Black Child, Son to the Bones. So called, his grand- 
father sent him to school, and so he was a good schollar, and godlie. 
He did build this church which doeth now stand in Lochyeld, called 
Kilmalet " — Macfarlane, ict supra, ii. 1S8. 

1 " There is something of pride in the perilous hour, 

Whate'er be the shape in which death may lower; 

For Fame is there to say who bleeds, 

And Honor's eye on daring deeds ! 

But when all is past, it is humbling to tread 

O'er the weltering field of the tombless dead. 

And see worms of the earth, and fowls of the air. 

Beasts of the forest, all gathering there; 

All regarding man as their prev, 

All rejoicing in his decay." — Byron — Siege of Corinth. 



TIO THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III 

The knot-grass fetter'd there the hand, 
Which once could burst an iron band ; 
Beneath the broad and ample bone, 
That buckler'd heart to fear unknown, 
A feeble and a timorous guest, 
The field-fare framed her lowly nest ; 
There the slow blind-worm left his slime 
On the fleet limbs that mock'd at time ; 
And there, too, lay the leader's skull,' 
Still wreathed with chaplet, flushed and full. 
For heath-bell, with her purple bloom. 
Supplied the bonnet and the plume.^ 
All night, in this sad glen, the maid 
Sate, shrouded in her mantle's shade : 
— She said, no shepherd sought her side, 
No hunter's hand her snood untied, 



" Remove yon skull from out the scattered heaps. 
Is that a temple where a god may dwell? 
Why, even the worm at last disdains her shattered cell. 
Look on its broken arch, its ruin'd wall, 
Its chambers desolate, and portals foul ; 
Yet this was once Ambition's airy hall. 
The dome of thought, the palace of the soul : 
Behold through each lack-lustre, eyeless hole. 
The gay recess of wisdom and of wit, 
And passion's host, that never brook'd controul : 
Can all saint, sage, or sophist ever writ. 
People this lonely tower, this tenement refit .?" 

Childe Harold. 
2 "These reflections on an ancient field of battle afford the most 
remarkable instance of false taste in all Mr. Scott's writings. Yet 
the brevity and variety of the images serve well to shew, that even 
in his errors there are traces of a powerful genius."— Jeffrey. 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. Ill 

Yet ne'er again to braid her hair 
The virgin snood did Alice wear ; ^ 
Gone was her maiden glee and sport, 
Her maiden girdle all too short, 
Nor sought she, from that fatal night. 
Or holy church or blessed rite, 
But lock'd her secret in her breast, 
And died in travail, unconfess'd. 



VI. 

Alone among his young compeers, 
Was Brian from his infant years ; 
A moody and heart-broken boy, 
Estranged from sympathy and joy, 
Bearing each taunt which careless tongue 
On his mysterious lineage flung. 
Whole nights he spent by moonlight pale, 
To wood and stream his hap to wail, 

^ The snood, or riband, with which a Scottish lass braided her 
hair, had an emblematical signification, and applied to her maiden 
character. It was exchanged for the curch, toy, or coif, when she 
passed, by marriage, into the matron state. But if the damsel was 
so unfortunate as to lose pretensions to the name of maiden, without 
gaining a right to that of matron, she was neither permitted to use 
the snood, nor advanced to the graver dignity of the curch. In old 
Scottish songs there occur many sly allusions to such misfortune; 
as in the old words to the popular tune of " Ower the muir amang 
the heather." 

'• Down amang the broom, the broom, 
Do^\n amang the broom, my dearie, 
The lassie lost her silken snood, 

That gard her greet till she was wearie." 



1 1 2 THE LAD V OF THE LAKE. [Canto III. 

Till, frantic, he as truth received^ 
What of his birth the crowd believed, 
And sought, in mist and meteor fire. 
To meet and know his Phantom Sire ! 
In vain, to soothe his wayward fate. 
The cloister oped her pitying gate ; 
In vain, the learning of the age 
Unclasp'd the sable-letter'd page : 
Even in its treasures he could find 
Food for the fever of his mind. 
Eager he read whatever tells 
Of magic, cabala, and spells, 
And every dark pursuit allied 
To curious and presumptuous pride ; 
Till with fired brain and nerves o'erstrung, 
And heart with mystic horrors rung, 
Desperate he sought Benharrow's den, 
And hid him from the haunts of men. 



VII. 

The desert gave him visions wild. 
Such as might suit the spectre's child.^ 

1 MS. : " Till driven to frenzy, he believed 
The legend of his birth received." 
2 In adopting the legend concerning the birth of the Founder of 
the Church of Kilmalee, the author has endeavored to trace the 
effects which such a belief was likely to produce, in a barbarous age, 
on the person to whom it related. It seems likely that he must have 
become a fanatic or an impostor, or that mixture of both which 
forms a more frequent character than either of them as existing 
separately. In truth, mad persons are frequently more anxious to 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. II3 

Where with black cliffs the torrents toil, 

He watch'd the wheeling eddies boil, 

Till, from their foam, his dazzled eyes 

Beheld the River Demon rise ; 

The mountain mist took form and limb, 

Of noontide hag, or goblin grim ; 

The midnight wind came wild and dread, 

Swell'd with the voices of the dead ; 

Far on the future battle-heath 

His eye beheld the ranks of death : 



impress upon others a faith in their visions, than they are them- 
selves confirmed in their reality; as, on the other hand, it is difficult 
for the most cool-headed impostor long to personate an enthusiast, 
without in some degree believing what he is so eager to have 
believed. It was a natural attribute of such a character as the sup- 
posed hermit, that he should credit the numerous superstitions with 
which the minds of ordinary Highlanders are almost always imbued. 
A few of these are slightly alluded to in this stanza. The River 
Demon, or River-horse, for it is that form which he commonly 
assumes, is the Kelpy of the Lowlands, an evil and malicious spirit, 
delighting to forbode and to witness calamity. He frequents most 
Highland lakes and rivers; and one of his most memorable exploits 
was performed upon the banks of Loch Vennachar, in the very dis- 
trict which forms the scene of our action : it consisted in the 
destruction of a funeral procession with all its attendants. The 
" noontide hag," called in Gaelic Glas-lick^ a tall, emaciated, gigantic 
female figure, is supposed in particular to haunt the district of 
Knoidart. A goblin dressed in antique armor, and having one hand 
covered with blood, called from that circumstance, Lkamdearg, or 
Red-hand, is a tenant of the forests of Glenmore and Rothiemurcus. 
Other spirits of the desert, all frightful in shape and malignant in 
disposition, are believed to frequent different mountains and glens 
of the Highlands, where any unusual appearance, produced by inist, 
or the strange lights that are sometimes thrown upon particular 
objects, never fails to present an apparition to the imagination of 
the solitary and melancholy mountaineer. 



14 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III, 



Thus the lone Seer, from mankind hurl'd, 
Shaped forth a disembodied world. 
One lingering sympathy of mind 
Still bound him to the mortal kind ; 
The only parent he could claim 
Of ancient Alpine's lineage came. 
Late had he heard, in prophet's dream, 
The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream ; ' 
Sounds, too, had come in midnight blast, 
Of charging steeds, careering fast 
Along Benharrow's shingly side. 
Where mortal horseman ne'er might ride ;^ 

1 MS. : "The fatal Ben-Shie's dismal scream; 
And seen her wrinkled form, the sign 
Of woe and death to Alpine's line." 

Most great families in the Highlands were supposed to have a 
tutelar, or rather domestic spirit, attached to them, who took an 
interest in their prosperity, and intimated bj its wailings anj ap- 
proaching disaster. That of Grant of Grant was called May 
Moul'.ach. and appeared in the form of a girl, who had her arm 
covered with hair. Grant of Rothiemurcus had an attendant called 
Bodac/i-a?i-diai, or the Ghost of the Hill: and many other examples 
might be mentioned. The Ban-Schie implies a female Fairy, whose 
lamentations were often supposed to precede the death of a chieftain 
of particular families. When she is visible, it is in the form of an 
old woman, with a blue mantle and streaming hair. A superstition 
of the same kind is, I believe, universally received by the inferior 
Tanks of the native Irish. 

Tne death of the head of a Highland family is also sometimes 
supposed to be announced by a chain of lights of different colors, 
called Dr'eug, or death of the Druid. The direction which it takes, 
marks the place of the funeral. See the Essay on Fairy Superstitions 
m the Border Minstrelsv- 
2 See Appendix, Note H. 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. II 5 

The thunderbolt had spht the pine, — 

All augur'd ill to Alpine's line. 

He girt his loins, and came to show 

The signals of impending woe, 

And now stood prompt to bless or ban, 

As bade the Chieftain of his clan. 

VIII. 

'Twas all prepar'd; — and from the rock, 
A goat, the patriarch of the flock, 
Before the kindling pile was laid, 
And pierced by Roderick's ready blade 
Patient the sickening victim eyed 
The life-blood ebb in crimson tide, 
Down his clogg'd beard and shaggy limb, 
Till darkness glazed his eyeballs dim. 
The grisly priest, with murmuring prayer, 
A slender crosslet form'd with care, 
A cubit's length in measure due ; 
The shaft and limbs were rods of yew, 
Whose parents in Inch-Cailliach wave ^ 
Their shadows o'er Clan-Alpine's grave, 

^ Inch-Cailliach, the Isle of Nuns, or of Old Women, is a most 
beautiful island at the lower extremity of Loch Lomond. The 
church belonging to the former nunnery was long used as the place 
of worship for the parish of Buchanan, but scarce any vestiges of it 
now remain. The burial-ground continues to be used, and contains 
the family places of sepulture of several neighboring clans. The 
monuments of the lairds of Macgregor, and of other families, claim- 
ing a descent from the old Scottish King Alpine, are most remark- 
able. The Hignlanders are as zealous of their rights of sepulture 



Il6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto iK. 

And answering Lomond's breezes deep, 
Soothe many a chieftain's endless sleep. 
The Cross, thus form'd, he held on high. 
With wasted hand, and haggard eye. 
And strange and mingled feelings woke, 
While his anathema he spoke. 



IX. 

" Woe to the clansman, who shall view 
This symbol of sepulchral yew, 
Forgetful that its branches grew 
Where weep the heavens their holiest dew 

On Alpine's dwelling low ! 
Deserter of his Chieftain's trust. 
He ne'er shall mingle with their dust, 
But, from his sires and kindred thrust, 
Each clansman's execration just ' 

Shall doom him wrath and woe." 
He paused; — the word the vassals took, 
With forward step and fiery look. 
On high their naked brands they shook, 

as may be expected from a people whose whole laws and government, 
If clanship can be called so, turned upon the single principle ot 
family descent. "May his ashes be scattered on the water," was 
one of the deeper;t and most solemn imprecations which they used 
against an enemy. See a detailed description of the funeral cere- 
monies of a Higiiland chieftain in the Fair Maid of Perth, Waverly 
Novels, vol. 43, c/iaps. x. and xi. New Edit. 

^ MS. : " Our warriors, on his worthless bust, 
Shall speak disgrace and woe." 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 117 

Their clattering targets wildly strook ; ' 

And first in murmur low, 
Then, like the billow in his course, 
That far to seaward finds his source. 
And flings to shore his muster'd force. 
Burst, with loud roar, their answer hoarse, 

'' Woe to the traitor, woe! " 
Ben-an's gray scalp the accents knew, 
The joyous wolf from covert drew. 
The exulting eagle scream'd afar, — 
They knew the voice of Alpine's war. 

X. 

The shout was hush'd on lake and fell. 
The monk resumed his mutter'd spell : 
Dismal and low its accents came, 
The while he scathed the Cross with flame ; 
And the few words that reach'd the air, 
Although the holiest name was there,^ 
Had more of blasphemy than prayer. 
But when he shook above the crowd 
Its kindled points, he spoke aloud : — 
" Woe to the wretch who fails to rear 
At this dread sign the ready spear ! 
For, as the flames this symbol sear, 
His home, the refuge of his fear, 
A kindred fate shall know ; 

* MS. : " Their clattering targets hardly strook: 

And first they mutter'd lorv." 
2 ^s. : "Although the holy name'was there." 



Il8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [Canto IIL 

Far o'er its roof the volumed flame 
Clan-Alpine's vengeance shall proclaim, 
While maids and matrons on his name 
Shall call down wretchedness and shame, 

And infamy and woe." 
Then rose the cry of females, shrill 
As goss-hawk's whistle on the hill, 
Denouncing misery and ill. 
Mingled with childhood's babbling trill 

Of curses stammer'd slow ; 
Answering, with imprecation dread, 
** Sunk be his home in embers red ! 
And cursed be the meanest shed 
That e'er shall hide the houseless head, 
We doom to want and woe !" 
A sharp and shrieking echo gave, 
Coir-Uriskin, thy goblin cave ! 
And the gray pass where birches wave, 

On Beala-nam-bo. 

XL 

Then deeper paused the priest anew, 
And hard his laboring breath he drew. 
While, with set teeth and clenched hand. 
And eyes that glow'd like fiery brand. 
He meditated curse more dread, 
And deadlier, on the clansman's head, 
Who, summon'd to his Chieftain's aid. 
The signal saw and disobey'd. 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. II9 

The crosslet's points of sparkling wood, 
He quench'd among the bubbling blood, 
And, as again the sign he rear'd, 
Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard : 
" When flits this Cross from man to man, 
Vich-Alpine's summons to his clan, 
Burst be the ear that fails to heed ! 
Palsied the foot that shuns to speed ! 
May ravens tear the careless eyes, 
Wolves make the coward heart their prize ! 
As sinks that blood-stream in the earth, 
So may his heart's-blood drench his hearth! 
As dies in hissing gore the spark, 
Quench thou his light, Destruction dark ! 
And be the grace to him denied. 
Bought by this sign to all beside!" 
He ceased ; no echo gave agen 
The murmur of the deep Amen.* 

xn. 

Then Roderick, with impatient look. 
From Brian's hand the symbol took ; 
" Speed, Malise, speed ! " he said, and gave 
The crosslet to his henchman brave. 
*'The muster-place be Lanrick mead — ^ 
Instant the time — speed, Malise, speed!" 

1 MS. : " The sloivly mutter'' d deep Amen." 
^ MS. : " Murlagan is the spot decreed." 



120 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III 

Like heath-bird, when the hawks pursue, 
A barge across Loch Katrine flew ; 
High stood the henchman on the prow ; 
So rapidly the barge-men row, 
The bubbles, where they launch'd the boat, 
Were all unbroken and afloat. 
Dancing in foam and ripple still. 
When it had near'd the mainland hill ; 
And from the silver beach's side 
Still was the prow three fathom wide. 
When lightly bounded to the land 
This messenger of blood and brand.' 

XIIL 

Speed, Malise, speed ! the dun deer's hide * 
On fleeter foot was never tied. 
Speed, Malise, speed ! such cause of haste 
Thine active sinews never braced. 

1 The present brogue of the Highlanders is made of half-dried 
leather, with holes to admit and let out the water; for walking the 
moors dry-shod is a matter altogether out of question. The ancient 
buskin was still ruder, being made of undressed deer's hide, with the 
hair outwards : a circumstance which procured the Highlanders the 
well-known epithet of Red-shanks. The process is very accurately 
described by one Elder (himself a Highlander) in the project for a 
union between England and Scotland, addressed to Henry VUI. 
" We go a-hunting, and after that we have slain red-deer, we flay off 
the skin by-and-by, and settingof our bare-foot on the inside thereof, 
for want of cunning shoemakers, by your grace's pardon, we plav 
the cobblers, compassing and measuring so much thereof as shall 
reach up to our ankles, pricking the upper part thereof with holes, 
that the water may repass where it enters, and stretching it up with 
a strong thong of the same above our said ankles. So, and please 



Canto III.] THE LAD V OF THE LA KE. 1 2 1 

Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast, 
Burst down like torrent from its crest ; 
With short and springing footstep pass 
The trembling bog and false morass ; 
Across the brook like roebuck bound, 
And thread the brake like questing hound ; 
The crag is high, the scaur is deep, 
Yet shrink not from the desperate leap : 
Parch'd are thy burning lips and brow. 
Yet by the fountain pause not now ; 
Herald of battle, fate, and fear,^ 
Stretch onward in thy fleet career ! 
The wounded hind thou track'st not now, 
Pursuest not maid through greenwood bough, 
Nor pliest thou now thy flying pace, 
With rivals in the mountain race ; 
But danger, death, and warrior deed. 
Are in thy course — speed, Malise, speed ! 



XIV. 

Fast as the fatal symbol flies. 

In arms the huts and hamlets rise ; 

your noble grace, •\ve make our shoes. Therefore, we using such 
manner of shoes, the rough hairy side outwards, in your grace's 
dominions of England, we be called Roughjooted Scots." — Pinker- 
ton's History, vol. ii., p. 397. 

1 MS. : " Dread messenger of fate and fear, ] 
Herald of danger, fate and fear, f 
Stretch onward in thy fleet career! 
Thou track'st not now the stricken doe, 
Nor maiden coy through greenwood bough." 



22 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III 



From winding glen, from upland brown, 
They pour'd each hardy tenant down. 
Nor slack'd the messenger his pace ; 
. He show'd the sign, he named the place, 
And, pressing forward like the wind. 
Left clamor and surprise behind.' 
The fisherman forsook the strand, 
The swarthy smith took dirk and brand ; 
With changed cheer, the mower blithe 
Left in the half-cut swathe the scythe ; 
The herds without a keeper stray'd. 
The plough was in mid-furrow stayed, 
The falc'ner toss'd his hawk away. 
The hunter left the stag at bay ; 
Prompt at the signal of alarms, 
Each son of Alpine rush'd to arms ; 
So swept the tumult and affray 
Along the margin of Achray. 
Alas, thou lovely lake ! that e'er 
Thy banks should echo sounds of fear ! 
The rocks, the bosky thickets, sleep 
So stilly on thy bosom deep, 
The lark's blithe carol, from the cloud, 
Seems for the scene too gayly loud."" 

• " The description of the starting of the ' fiery cross ' bears more 
marks of labor than most of Mr. Scott's poetry, and borders, per- 
haps, upon straining and exaggeration ; yet it shows great power." — 
Jeffrey. 

2 MS. : " Seems all too lively and too loud'^ 



Canto lii.j THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 1 23 



XV. 

Speed, Malise, speed ! the lake is past, 

Dimcraggan's huts appear at last, 

And peep, like moss-grown rocks, half seen, 

Half hidden in the copse so green ; 

There mayest thou rest, thy labor done. 

Their Lord shall speed the signal on. — 

As stoops the hawk upon his prey. 

The henchman shot him down the way 

— What woeful accents load the gale.? 

The funeral yell, the female wail ! * 

A gallant hunter's sport is o'er, 

A valiant warrior fights no more. 

Who, in the battle or the chase. 

At Roderick's side shall fill his place! — 

Within the hall, where torches' ray 

Supplies the excluded beams of day, 

Lies Duncan on his lowly bier. 

And o'er him streams his widow's tear. 

His stripling son stands mournful by, 

His youngest weeps, but knows not why ! 

The village maids and matrons round 

The dismal coronach resound.^ 

MS. : " 'Tis woman's scream, 'tis childhood's wail." 
"^ The Corojiach of the Highlanders, like the Ulalatus of the 
Romans and the Uhiloo of the Irish, was a wild expression of lamen- 
tation, poured forth by the mourners over the body of a departed 
friend. When the words of it were articulate, they expressed the 
praises of the deceased, and the loss the clan would sustain by his 
death. The following is a lamentation of this kind, literally trans* 



124 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto 111. 

XVI. 

CORONACH. 

He is gone on the mountain, 

He is lost to the forest. 
Like a summer-dried fountain, 

When our need was the sorest. 
The font, reappearing, 

From the rain-drops shall borrow, 



lated from the Gaelic, to some of the ideas of which the text stands 
indebted. The tune is so popular that it has since become the war- 
march, or Gathering of the clan. 

Corojiach on Sir Laucklan, Chief of Maclean. 

" Which of all the Senachies 
Can trace thy line from the root up to Paradise, 
But Macvuirih, the son of Fergus? 
No sooner had thine ancient stately tree 
Taken firm root in Albion, 
Than one of thy forefathers fell at Hartaw. 
'Twas then we lost a chief of deathless name. 

*• 'Tis no base weed — no planted tree. 
Nor a seedling of last Autumn; 
Nor a sapling planted at Beltain ; * 
Wide, wide around were spread its lofty branches 
But the topmost bough is lowly laid ! 
Thou hast forsaken us before Sawaine.t 

" Thy dwelling is the winter house ; — 
Loud, sad, sad, and mighty is thy death-song! 
Oh! courteous champion of Montrose ! 
Oh ! stately warrior of the Celtic Isles ! 
Thou shalt buckle thy harness on no more! " 

The coronach has for some years past been superseded at funerals 
bv the use of the bagpipe ; and that also is, like many other High- 
land peculiarities, falling into disuse unless in remote districts. 
* Bell's fire, or Whitsunday. j Hallowe'en. 



CANTO III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE 12$ 

But to us comes no cheering, 

To Duncan no morrow ! 
The hand of the reaper 

Takes the ears that are hoary, 
But the voice of the weeper 

Wails manhood in glory. 
The autumn winds rushine: 

Waft the leaves that are sparest. 
But our flower was in flushing, . 

When blighting was nearest. 

Fleet foot on the correi,^ 

Sage counsel in cumber, 
Red hand in the foray, 

How sound is thy slumber ! 
Like the dew on the mountain, 

Like the foam on the river, 
Like the bubble on the fountain, 

Thou art gone, and for ever ! ^ 



* Or corri. The hollow side of the hill, where game usually lies. 

2 " Mr. Scott is such a master of versification that the most com- 
plicated metre does not for an instant arrest the progress of his 
imagination ; its difficulties usually operate as a salutary excitement 
to his attention, and not unfrequently suggest to him new and un- 
pected graces of expression. If a r.areless rhyme or an ill-constructed 
phrase occasionally escape him amidst the irregular torrent of his 
stanza, the blemish is often imperceptible by the hurried eye of the 
reader; but when the short lines are yoked in pairs, any dissonance 
in the jingle, or interruption of the construction, cannot fail to give 
offence. We learn from Horace, that in the course of a long work, 
a poet may legitimately indulge in a momentary slumber; but we 
do not wish to hear him snore-" — ^narterly Revievj. 



126 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto Hi 

XVII. 

See Stumah/ who, the bier beside, 

His master's corpse with wonder eyed, 

Poor Stumah ! whom his least halloo 

Could send like lightning o'er the dew, 

Bristles his crest, and points his ears, 

As if some stranger step he hears. 

'Tis not a mourner's muffled tread, 

Who comes to sorrow o'er the dead, 

But headlong haste, or deadly fear, 

Urge the precipitate career. 

All stand aghast : — unheeding all, 

The henchman bursts into the hall ; 

Before the dead man's bier he stood ; 

Held forth the Cross besmear'd with blood : 

" The muster-place is Lanrick mead ; 

Speed forth the signal! clansmen, speed!" 

XVIII. 

Angus, the heir of Duncan's line,^ 
Sprung forth and seized the fatal sign. 

1 Faithful. The name of a dog. 

3 MS. : "Angus, \X\q first of Duncan's line, 

Sprung forth and seized the fatal signj 

And then upon his kinsmaiis bier 

Fell Alalise's suspended tear. 

In haste the stripling to his side 

His father's targe and falchion tied." 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I2> 

In haste the stripling to his side 

His father's dirk and broadsword tied ; 

But when he saw his mother's eye 

Watch him in speechless agony, 

Back to her open'd arms he flew, 

Press'd on her lips a fond adieu — 

" Alas ! " she sobb'd, — *' and yet, be gone, 

And speed thee forth, like Duncan's son !" 

One look he cast upon the bier, 

Dash'd from his eye the gathering tear. 

Breathed deep to clear his laboring breast, 

And toss'd aloft his bonnet crest. 

Then, like the high-bred colt, when, freed. 

First he essays his fire and speed, 

He vanish'd, and o'er moor and moss 

Sped forward with the Fiery Cross. 

Suspended was the widow's tear. 

While yet his footsteps she could hear ; 

And when she mark'd the henchman's eye 

Wet with unwonted sympathy, 

"Kinsman," she said, '' his race is run. 

That should have sped thine errand on ; 

The oak has fall'n — the sapling bough 

Is all Duncraggan's shelter now. 

Yet trust I well, his duty done, 

The orphan's God will guard myson— = 

And you, in many a danger true. 

At Duncan's best your blades that drew. 



128 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III. 

To arms, and guard that- orphan's head ! 
Let babes and women wail the dead." 
Then weapon-clang, and martial call. 
Resounded through the funeral hall, 
While from the walls the attendant band 
Snatch'd sword and targe, with hurried hand; 
And short and flitting energy 
Glanced from the mourner's sunken eye, 
As if the sounds to warrior dear 
Might rouse her Duncan from his bier. 
But faded soon that borrowed force ; 
Grief claim'd his right, and tears their course. 



XIX. 

Benledi saw the Cross of Fire, 
It glanced like lightning up Strath-Ire. ^ 
O'er dale and hill the summons flew, 
Nor rest nor pause young Angus knew ; 

1 Inspection of the provincial map of Perthshire, or any large map 
of Scotland, will trace the progress of the signal through the small di.s- 
tricts of lakes and mountains, which, in exercise of my poetical privilege, 
I have subjected to the authority of my imaginary chieftain, and which, 
at the period of my romance, was really occupied by a clan who claimed 
a descent from Alpine, a clan the most unfortunate, and most persecuted, 
but neither the least distinguished, least powerful, nor least brave, of tlie 
tribes of the Gael. 

" Slioch non rioghridh duchaisach 

Bha-shios an Dun-Staiobhinish 

Aig an roubh crun na Halba othus 

'Stag a cheil dnchas fast ris." 

The first stage of the Fiery Cross is to Duncraggan, a place near 
the Brigg of Turk, where a short stream divides Loch Archray from 
Loch Vennachar. P'rom thence, it passes towards Callender, and 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 1 29 

The tear that gathered in his eye 

He left the mountain breeze to dry ; 

Until, where Teith's young waters roll, 

Betwixt him and a wooded knoll/ 

That graced the sable strath with green. 

The chapel of St. Bride was seen. 

Swoln was the stream, remote the bridge 

But Angus paused not on the edge ; 

Though the dark waves danced dizzily, 

Though reel'd his sympathetic eye, 

He dash'd amid the torrent's roar : 

His right hand high the crosslet bore. 

His left the pole-axe grasp'd, to guide 

And stay his footing in the tide. 

He stumbled twice — the foam splash'd high, 

With hoarser swell the stream raced by; 

And had he fall'n, — forever there, 

Farewell Duncraggan's orphan heir! 

But still, as if in parting life. 

Firmer he grasp'd the Cross of strife, 

Until the opposing bank he gain'd. 

And up the chapel pathway strain'd. 



ihen, turning to the left up the pass of Leny, is consigned to Norman 
at the chapel of Saint Bride, which stood on a small and romantic 
knoll, in the middle of the valley, called Strath-Ire. Tombea and 
ALrnandave, or Ardmandave, are names of places in the vicinity. The 
alarm is then supposed to pass along the lake of Lubnaig, and 
through the various glens in the district of Balquidder, including 
the neighboring tracts of Glenfinlas and Strathgartney. 
1 MS. : '"'■And -vkere a steef and wooded knoll 

Graced the dark strath with emerald green." 



I30 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III. 

XX. 

A blithesome rout, that morning tide, 
Had sought the chapel of St. Bride. 
Her troth Tombea's Mary gave 
To Norman, heir of Armandave, 
And, issuing from the Gothic arch. 
The bridal now resumed their march. 
In rude, but glad procession, came 
Bonneted sire and coif-clad dame ; 
And plaided youth, with jest and jeer. 
Which snooded maiden would not hear ; 
And children, that, unwitting why. 
Lent the gay shout their shrilly cry ; 
And minstrels, that in measures vied 
Before the young and bonny bride. 
Whose downcast eye and cheek disclose 
The tear and blush of morning rose. 
With virgin step, and bashful hand, 
She held the 'kerchief's snowy band ; 
The gallant bridegroom by her side. 
Beheld his prize with victor's pride, 
And the glad mother in her ear 
Was closely whispering words of cheer. 

XXI. 

Who meets them at the churchyard gate } 
The messenger of fear and fate ! 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Haste in his hurried accent Hes, 

And grief is swimming in his eyes. 

All dripping from the recent flood, 

Panting and travel-soil'd he stood, 

The fatal sign of fire and sword 

Held forth, and spoke the appointed word : 

" The muster-place is Lanrick mead ; 

Speed forth the signal ! Norman, speed!" 

And must he change so soon the hand,' 

Just link'd to his by holy band. 

For the fell Cross of blood and brand } 

And must the day, so blithe that rose. 

And promised rapture in the close, 

Before its setting hour, divide 

The bridegroom from the plighted bride ? 

O fatal doom ! — it must ! it must ! 

Clan-Alpine's cause, her Chieftain's trust, 

Her summons dread, brook no delay ; 

Stretch to the race — away! away! 

XXII. 

Yet slow he laid his plaid aside, 
And, lingering, eyed his lovely bride, 
Until he saw the starting tear 
Speak woe he might not stop to cheer; 
Then, trusting not a second look, 
In haste he sped him up the brook, 

- MS. : "And must he then exchange the hand." 



132 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III. 



Nor backward glanced, till on the heath 
Where Lubnaig's lake supplies the Teith. 
— What in the racer's bosom stirr'd ? 
The sickening pang of hope deferr'd, 
And memory, with a torturing train,^ 
Of all his morning visions vain. 
Mingled with love's impatience, came 
The manly thirst for martial fame ; 
The stormy joy of mountaineers. 
Ere yet they rush upon the spears ; 
And zeal for Clan and Chieftain burning, 
And hope, from well-fought field returning, 
With war's red honors on his crest, 
To clasp his Mary to his breast. 
Stung by such thoughts, o'er bank and brae, 
Like fire from flint he glanced away, 
While high resolve, and feeling strong, 
Burst into voluntary song. 

XXIII. 

SONG. 

The heath this night must be my bed, 
The bracken ^ curtain for my head, 
My lullaby the warder's tread, 

Far, far, from love and thee, Mary : 

MS. : "And memory brought the torturing train 
Of all his morning visions vain ; 
But mingled with impatience came 
The manly love of martial fam?," 

Bracken. — Fern. 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 1 33 

To-morrow eve, more stilly laid. 
My couch may be my bloody plaid. 
My vesper song, thy wail, sweet maid ! 

It will not waken me, Mary ! 
I may not, dare not, fancy now ' 
The grief that clouds thy lovely brow, 
I dare not think upon thy vow. 

And ail it promised me, Mary. 
No fond regret must Norman know ; 
When bursts Clan-Alpine on the foe. 
His heart must be like bended bow, 

His foot like arrow free, Mary. 

A time will come with feeling fraught, 
For, if I fall in battle fought. 
Thy hapless lover's dying thought 

Shall be a thought on thee, Mary.^ 
And if return'd from conquer'd foes, 
How blithely will the evening close, 
How sweet the linnet sing repose. 

To my young bride and me, Mary ! 

1 MS. : " I maj not, dare not, image now." 

8 MS. : " A time will come for love and faith. 

For should thy bridegroom jield his breath, 
'Twill cheer him in the hour of death, 
The boasted risrht to thee, Mary." 



134 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IIL 

XXIV. 

Not faster o'er thy heathery braes, 
Balquidder, speeds the midnight blaze,* 
Rushing, in conflagration strong, 
Thy deep ravines and dells along. 
Wrapping thy cliffs in purple glow, 
And reddening the dark lakes below ; 
Nor faster speeds it, nor so far, 
As o'er thy heaths the voice of war.^ 
The signal roused to martial coil 
The sullen margin of Loch Voil, 
Waked still Loch Doine, and to the source 
Alarm'd, Balvaig, thy swampy course ; 
Then southward turn'd its rapid road 
Adown Strath-Gartney's valley broad, 
Till rose in arms each man might claim 
A portion in Clan-Alpine's name, 
From the gray sire, whose trembling hand 
Could hardly buckle on his brand, 
To the raw boy, whose shaft and bow 
Were yet scarce terror to the crow. 

1 It may be necessary to inform the southern reader that the 
heath on the Scottish moorlands is often set fire to, that the sheep 
may have the advantage of the young herbage produced, m room of 
the tough old heather plants. This custom (execrated by sportsmen) 
produces occasionally the most beautiful nocturnal appearances, 
similar almost to the discharge of a volcano. This simile is not 
new to poetry. The charge of a warrior, in the fine ballad of 
Hardyknute, is said to be " like fire to heather set." 

2 "The eager fidelity with which this fatal signal is hurried on 
and obeyed is represented with great spirit and felicity." — Jeffrey. 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE, I35 

Each valley, each sequester'd glen, 

Muster'd its little horde of men, 

That met as torrents from the height 

In Highland dales their streams unite, 

Still gathering, as they pour along, 

A voice more loud, a tide more strong. 

Till at the rendezvous they stood 

By hundreds prompt for blows and blood ; 

Each train'd to arms since life began. 

Owning no tie but to his clan. 

No oath, but by his chieftain's hand, 

No law, but Roderick Dhu's command.' 



XXV. 

That summer morn had Roderick Dhu 
Survey'd the skirts of Benvenue, 
And sent his scouts o'er hill and heath. 
To view the frontiers of Menteith. 

1 The deep and implicit respect paid by the Highland clansmen 
to their chief, rendered this both a common and a solemn oath. In 
other respects thej were like most savage nations, capricious in their 
ideas concerning the obligatory power of oaths. One solemn mode 
of swearing was by kissing the dirk^ imprecating upon themselves 
death by that, or a similar weapon, if they broke their vow. But for 
oaths in the usual form they are said to have paid little respect. As 
for the reverence due to the chief, it may be guessed from the follow- 
ing odd example of a Highland point of honor : — 

"The clan whereto the above-mentioned tribe belongs is the 
only one I have heard of which is without a chief: that is, being 
divided into families, under several chieftains, without any pai'ticular 
patriarch of the whole name. And this is a great reproach, as may 
appear from an affair that fell out at m_v table, in the Highlands, 
between one of that name and a Cameron. The provocation given 



136 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III. 

And backward came with news of truce ; 
Still lay each martial Graeme and Bruce, 
In Rednoch courts no horsemen wait, 
No banner waved on Cardross gate, 
On Duchray's towers no beacon shone, 
Nor scared the herons from Loch Con ; 
All seem'd at peace. — Now, wot ye why 
The Chieftain, with such anxious eye. 
Ere to the muster he repair. 
This western frontier scann'd with care ? — 
In Benvenue's most darksome cleft, 
A fair, though cruel, pledge was left ; 
For Douglas, to his promise true. 
That morning from the isle withdrew. 
And in deep sequester'd dell 
Had sought a low and lonely cell. 
By many a bard, in Celtic tongue, 
Has Coir-nan-Uriskin been sung : ' 

by the latter was — 'Name your chief.' — The return of it at once 
was, — 'You are a fool.' They went out next morning, but having 
early notice of it, I sent a small party of soldiers after them, which, 
in all probability, prevented some barbarous mischief that might 
have ensued ; for the chiefless Highlander, who is himself a petty 
chieftain, was going to the place appointed with a small-sword and 
a pistol, whereas the Cameron (an old man) took wnth him ox\\y his 
broadsword, according to the agreement. 

"When all was over, and I had, at least seemingly, reconciled 
them, I was told the words, of which I seemed to think but slightly, 
were, to one of the clan, the greatest of all provocations." — Letters 
from Scotland^ vol. ii, p. 221. 

' This is a very steep and most romantic hollow in the mountain 
of Benvenue, overhanging the southeastern extremity of Loch 
Katrine. It is surrounded with stupendous rocks, and overshadowed 



Canto 111.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 1 37 

A softer name the Saxons gave, 
And call'd the grot the GobUn-cave. 



XXVI. 

It was a wild and strange retreat, 
As e'er was trod by outlaw's feet. 
The dell upon the mountain crest, 
Yawn'd like a gash on warrior's breast ; 
Its trench had stay'd full many a rock, 
Hurl'd by primeval earthquake shock 
From Benvenue's gray summit wild ; 
And here, in random ruin piled, 

with birch-trees, mingled with oaks, the spontaneous production of 
the mountain, even where its cliffs appear denuded of soil. A dale 
in so wild a situation, and amid a people whose genius bordered on 
the romantic, did not remain without appropriate deities. The name 
literally implies the Corri, or Den, of the Wild or Shaggy Men. 
Perhaps this, as conjectured by Mr. Alexander Campbell,* may have 
originally only implied its being the haunt of a ferocious banditti. 
But tradition has ascribed to the Urisk, who gives name to the 
cavern, a figure between a goat and a man ; in short, however much 
the classical reader may be startled, precisely that of the Grecian 
Satyr. The Urt'sk seems not to have inherited, with the form, the 
petulance of the sylvan deity of the classics : his occupation, on the 
contrary, resembled those of iNIilton's Lubber Fiend, or of the Scot- 
tish Brownie, though he differed from both in name and appearance. 
" The Urisks,'" says Dr. Graham, " were a set of lubberly supernatu- 
rals, who, like the Brownies, could be gained over, by kind attention, 
to perform the drudgery of the farm, and it was believed that many 
of the families in the Highlands had one of the order attached to it. 
They were supposed to be dispersed over the Highlands, each in his 
own wild recess, but the solemn stated meetings of the order were 
regularly held in this Cave of Benvenue. This current superstition, 
no doubt, alludes to some circumstance in the ancient history of this 
* journey from Edinburgh, 1S02, p. loS. 



138 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto III. 

They frown'd incumbent o'er the spot, 
And form'd the rugged sylvan grot/ 
The oak and birch, with mingled shade. 
At noontide there a twilight made, 
Unless when short and sudden shone 
Some straggling beam on cliff or stone, 
With such a glimpse as prophet's eye 
Gains on thy depth, Futurity. 
No murmur waked the solemn still. 
Save tinkling of a fountain rill.; 
But when the wind chafed with the lake, 
A sullen sound would upward break. 
With dashing hollow voice that spoke 
The incessant war of wave and rock. 

country." — Scenery on the Southern Confines of Perthshire^ ^. 19, 
1806. It must be owned that the Coir, or Den, does not, in its 
present state, meet our ideas of a subterraneous grotto, or cave, 
being only a small and narrow cavity, among huge fragments of 
rocks rudely piled together. But such a scene is liable to convul- 
sions of nature which a Lowlander cannot estimate, and which may 
have choked up what was originally a cavern. At least the name 
and tradition warrant the author of a fictitious tale, to assert its 
having been such at the remote period in which this scene is laid. 

1 " After landing on the skirts of Benvenue, we reach the car>e (or 
more properly the cove) of the goblins, by a steep and narrow defile 
of a few hundred yards in length. It is a deep, circular amphi- 
theatre of at least six hundred yards of extent in its upper diameter, 
gradually narrowing towards the base, hemmed in all round by steep 
and towering rocks, and rendered impenetrable to the rays of the 
sun by a close covert of luxuriant trees. On the south and west it 
is bounded by the precipitous shoulder of Benvenue, to the height 
of at least five hundred feet; towards the east, the rock appears at 
some former period to have tumbled down, strewing the whole 
course of its fall with immense fragments, which now serve only to 
give shelter to foxes, wild-cats, and badgers." — Dr. Graham. 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 139 

Suspended cliffs, with hideous sway, 
Seem'd nodding o'er the cavern gray. 
From such a den the wolf had sprung, 
In such the wild-cat leaves her young; 
Yet Douglas and his daughter fair 
Sought for a space their safety there. 
Gray Superstition's whisper dread 
Debarr'd the spot to vulgar tread ; 
For there, she said, did fays resort. 
And satyrs ' hold their sylvan court, 
By moonlight tread their mystic maze, 
And blast the rash beholder's gaze. 

XXVII. 

Now eve with western shadows long. 
Floated on Katrine bright and strong. 
When Roderick, with a chosen few, 
Repass'd the heights of Benvenue. 
Above the Goblin-cave they go, 
Through the wild pass of Beal-nam-bo ;^ 
The prompt retainers speed before. 
To launch the shallop from the shore, 
For 'cross Lock Katrine lies his way 
To view the passes of Achray, 

1 The Urhk, or Highland satyr. See a previous Note. 

-' Bealach-nam-bo, or the pass of cattle, is a most magnificent 
glade, overhung with aged birch-trees, a little higher up the moun- 
tain than the Coir-nan Uriskin, treated of in a former Note. The 
whole composes the most sublime piece of scenery that imagination 
can conceive. 



140 THE LADY OF IHE LAKE. [Canto III. 

And place his clansmen in array. 

Yet lags the chief in musing mind, 

Unwonted sight, his men behind, 

A single page to bear his sword. 

Alone attended on his lord ; ' 

The rest their way through thickets break. 

And soon await him by the lake, 

It was a fair and gallant sight, 

To view them from the neighboring height, 

1 A Highland chief, being as absohite in his patriarchal authority 
as any prince, had a corresponding number of officers attached to 
his person. He had his body-guards, called Lui'c/ittac//, picked from 
his clan for strength, activity, and entire devotion to his person. 
These, according to their deserts, were sure to share abundantly in 
the rude profusion of his hospitality. It is recorded, for example, 
by tradition, that Allan MacLean, chief of that clan, happened upon 
a time to hear one of these favorite retainers observe to his comrade, 
that their chief grew old. " Whence do you infer that?" replied the 
other. " When was it," rejoined the first, " that a soldier of Allan's 
was obliged, as I am now, not only to eat the flesh from the bone, 
but even to tear off the inner skin, or filament.''" The hint was 
quite sufficient, and MacLean next morning, to relieve his followers 
from such dire necessity, undertook an inroad on the mainland, the 
ravage of which altogether eflfaced the memory of his former expe- 
ditions for the like purpose. 

Our officer of Engineers, so often quoted, has given us a distinct 
list of the domestic officers who, independent of LuichttacJi, or 
gardes de corps, belonged to the establishment of a Highland 
Chief. These are, i. The Henchman. See these notes, p. loo. 2. 
The Bard. See p. 60. 3. Bladicr, or spokesman. 4. Gillie-more, 
or sword-bearer, alluded to in the text. 5. Gillie-casjiue, who car- 
ried the chief, if on foot, over the fords. 6. Gillie-comsfraine, who 
leads the chiefs horse. 7. Gillie-Trus/ianarins/i,\.heh^g,giige-m?in. 
8. The piper. 9. The piper's gillie or attendant, who carries the 
bagpipe.* Although this appeared, naturally enough, very ridiculous 
to an English officer, who considered the master of such a retinue 
* Letters from Scotland, vol. ii, p. 15. 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I41 

By the low-levell'd sunbeam's light ! 
For strength and stature, from the clan 
Each warrior was a chosen man, 
As even afar might well be seen, 
By their proud step and martial mien. 
Their feathers dance, their tartans float, 
Their targets gleam, as by the boat 
A wild and warlike group they stand. 
That well became such mountain-strand. 



XXVIII. 

Their Chief, with step reluctant, still 
Was lingering on the craggy hill, 
Hard by where turn'd apart the road 
To Douglas's obscure abode. 
It was but with that dawning morn. 
That Rhoderick Dhu had proudly sworn 
To drown his love in war's wild roar,' 
Nor think of Ellen Douglas more ; 
But he who stems a stream with sand, 
And fetters flame with flaxen band, 

as no more than an English gentleman of £500 a vear, yet in the 
circumstances of the chief, whose strength and importance consisted 
in the number and attachment of his followers, it was of the last 
consequence, in point of policy, to have in his gift subordinate 
offices, which called immediately round his person those who were 
most devoted to him, and, being of value in their estimation, were 
also the means of rewarding them 

1 MS. : " To drown his grief '\x\ Avar's wild roar. 
Nor think oi love and Ellen more." 



142 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto Hi. 

Has yet a harder task to prove — 

By firm resolve to conquer love ! 

Eve finds the Chief, like restless ghost, 

Still hovering near his treasure lost ; 

For though his haughty heart deny 

A parting meeting to his eye. 

Still fondly strains his anxious ear, 

The accents of her voice to hear, 

And inly did he curse the breeze 

That waked to sound the rustling trees. 

But hark ! what mingles in the strain } 

It is the harp of Allan-Bane, 

That wakes its measures slow and high. 

Attuned to sacred minstrelsy. 

What melting voice attends the stiings t 

'Tis Ellen, or an angel, sings. 



XXIX. 

HYMN TO THE VIRGIN. 

Ave Maria ! maiden mild ! 

Listen to a maiden's prayer! 
Thou canst hear though from the wild. 

Thou canst save amid despair. 
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care, 

Though banish'd, outcast, and reviled — 
Maiden ! hear a maiden's prayer ; 

Mother, hear a suppliant child ! 

Ave Maria I 



Canto lll.l THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I43 

Ave Maria! undefiled ! 
* The flinty couch we now must share' 
Shall seem with down of eider piled, 

If thy protection hover there. 
The murky cavern's heavy air ^ 

Shall breathe of balm if thou hast smiled ; 
Then, Maiden ! hear a maiden's prayer, 
Mother, list a suppliant child ! 

Ave Maria! 

Ave Maria ! stainless styled ! 

Foul demons of the earth and air, 
From this their wonted haunt exiled. 

Shall flee before thy presence fair. 
We bow us to our lot of care, 

Beneath thy guidance reconciled ; 
Hear for a maid a maiden's prayer, 

And for a father hear a child ! 

Ave Maria! 

XXX. 

Died on the harp the closing hymn — 
Unmoved in attitude and limb. 
As list'ning still, Clan-Alpine's lord 
Stood leaning on his heavy sword, 
Until the" page, with humble sign. 
Twice pointed to the sun's decline. 



^ MS. : " The flinty couch my sire must share.' 
2 MS. : " The xnnrVj grotto's noxious air." 



144 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IIL 

Then while his plaid around him cast, 
'*It is the last time — 'tis the last," 
He muttered thrice, — "the last time e'er 
That angel-voice shall Roderick hear!" 
It was a goading thought — his stride 
Hied hastier down the mountain-side; 
Sullen he flung him in the boat, 
And instant 'cross the lake it shot. 
They landed in that silvery bay. 
And eastward held their hasty way, 
Till, with the latest beams of light, 
The band arrived on Lanrick height, 
Where muster'd, in the vale below,' 
Clan-Alpine's men in martial show. 

XXXI. 

A various scene the clansmen made, 

Some sate, some stood, some slowly stray'd; 

But most with mantles folded round. 

Were couch'd to rest upon the ground, 

Scarce to be known by curious eye. 

From the deep heather where they lie, 

So well was match'd the tartan screen 

With heath-bell dark and brackens green ; 

Unless where, here and there, a blade. 

Or lance's point, a glimmer made. 

Like glow-worm twinkling through the shade, 

* MS. : " Where broad extending far below, 

Muster'd Clan-Alpine's martial show." 



Canto III.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



But when, advancing through the gloom, 
They saw the Chieftain's eagle plume, 
Their shout of welcome, shrill and wide, 
Shook the steep mountain's steady side. 
Thrice it arose, and lake and fell 
Three times return'd the martial yell ; 
It died upon Bochastle's plain, 
And silence claimed her evening reign. 



145 



CANTO FOURTH. 

THE PROPHECY. 

I 

*' The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new, 

And hope is brightest when it dawns from feai^s ; ^ 
The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew, 
And love is loveHest when embalm 'd in tears 
O wilding rose, whom fancy thus endears, 
I bid your blossoms in my bonnet wave. 
Emblem of hope and love through future years ! '' 
Thus spoke young Norman, heir of Armandave, 
What time the sun arose on Vennachar's broad wave. 

II. 

Such fond conceit, half said, half sung, 
Love prompted to the bridegroom's tongue. 
All while he stripp'd the wild-rose spray. 
His axe and bow beside him lay. 
For on a pass 'twixt lake and wood, 
A wakeful sentinel he stood. 
Hark ! — on the rock a footstep rung, 
And instant to his arms he sprung. 

1 MS. : " And rapture dearest when obscured by fears." 
1^6 



Canto IV,] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I47 

** Stand, or thou diest! — What, Malise? — soon 

Art thou return'd from Braes of Doune. 

By thy keen step and glance I know, 

Thou bring'st us tidings of the foe.'* 

(For while the Fiery Cross hied on. 

On distant scout had Malise gone.) 

** Where sleeps the Chief?" the henchman said 

** Apart in yonder misty glade ; 

To his lone couch I'll be your guide." 

Then call'd a slumberer by his side. 

And stirr'd him with his slacken'd bow — 

*' Up, up, Glentarkin ! rouse thee, ho ! 

We seek the Chieftain ; on the track, 

Keep eagle watch till I come back." 

III. 

Together up the pass they sped : 

"What of the foemen.?" Norman said. 

*' Varying reports from near and far; 

This certain, — that a band of war 

Has for two days been ready boune, 

At prompt command, to march from Doune ; 

King James, the while, with princely powers, 

Holds revelry in Stirling towers. 

Soon will this dark and gathering cloud 

Speak on our glens in thunder loud. 

Inured to bide such bitter bout, 

The warrior's plaid may bear it out ; 



148 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 

But; Norman, how wilt thou provide 

A shelter for thy bonny bride?" — 

" What ! know ye not that Roderick's care 

To the lone isle hath caused repair 

Each maid and matron of the clan, 

And every child and aged man, 

Unfit for arms ; and given his charge, 

Nor skiff nor shallop, boat nor barge. 

Upon these lakes shall float at large. 

But all beside the islet moor. 

That such dear pledge may rest secure ? 

IV. 

" 'Tis well advised — the Chieftain's plan * 

Bespeaks the father of his clan. 

But wherefore sleeps Sir Roderick Dhu 

Apart from all his followers true } " — 

" It is, because last evening-tide 

Brian an augury hath tried, 

Of that dread kind which must not be 

Unless in dread extremity. 

The Taghairm call'd ; by which afar. 

Our sires foresaw the events of war.^ 

Duncraggan's milk-white bull they slew." 

' MS. : '"Tis well advised — a prudent plan, 

Worthy the father of his clan." 
2 See Appendix, Note I. 



:anto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I49 



MALISE. 

" Ah ! well the gallant brute I knew ! 
The choicest of the prey we had, 
When swept our merry-men Gallangad.^ 
His hide was snow, his horns were dark. 
His red eye glow'd like fiery spark; 
So fierce, so tameless, and so fleet, 
Sore did he cumber our retreat. 
And kept our stoutest kernes in awe, 
Even at the pass of Beal 'maha. 
But steep and flinty was the road, 
And sharp the hurrying pikemen's goad, 

1 I know not if it be worth observing, that this passage is taken 
almost literally from the mouth of an old Highland Kern, or Ket- 
teran, as they were called. He used to narrate the merry doings of 
the good old time when he was a follower of Rob Roy MacGregor. 
This leader, on one occasion, thought proper to make a descent upon 
the lower part of the Loch Lomond district, and summoned all the 
heritors and farmers to meet at the Kirk of Drymen, to pay him 
black-mail, /. e. tribute for forbearance and protection. As this 
invitation was supported by a band of thirty or foily stout fellows, 
only one gentleman, an ancestor, if I mistake not, of the present 
Mr. Grahame of Gartmore, ventured to decline compliance. Rob 
Roy instantly swept his land of all he could drive away, and among 
the spoil was a bull of the old Scottish wild breed, whose ferocity 
occasioned great plague to the Ketterans. " But ere we had reached 
the Row of Dennan," said the old man, " a child might have scratched 
his ears."* The circumstance is a minute one, but it paints the 
times when the poor beeve was compelled — 

*' To hoof it o'er as many weary miles, 
With goading pikemen hollowing at his heels, 
As e'er the bravest antler of the woods." 

Etlnvald. 

* This anecdote was, in former editions, inaccurately ascribed to Gregor Macgregor 
of Glengyle, called Ghhaie Dhn, or Black-knee, a relation of Rob Roy, but, as I have 
been assured, not addicted to his predatory excesses. — NoU to Third Edition. 



I50 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 

And when we came to Dennan's Row, 
A child might scatheless stroke his brow." 



V. 

NORMAN. 

" That bull was slain : his reeking hide 
They stretch'd the cataract beside, 
Whose waters their wild tumult toss 
Adown the black and craggy boss 
Of that huge cliff, whose ample verge 
Tradition calls the Hero's Targe.' 
Couch'd on a shelve beneath its brink, 
Close where the thundering torrents sink, 
Rocking beneath their headlong sway, 
And drizzled by the ceaseless spray. 
Midst groan of rock, and roar of stream, 
The wizard waits prophetic dream. 
Nor distant rests the Chief ; — but hush ! 
See, gliding slow through mist and bush, 
The hermit gains yon rock, and stands 
To gaze upon our slumbering bands. 
Seems he not, Malise, like a ghost. 
That hovers o'er a slaughter'd host } 

' There is a rock so named in the Forest of Glenfinlas, by which 
a tumultuary cataract takes its course. This wild place is said in 
tbrmer times to have afforded refuge to an outlaw, who was supplied 
with provisions by a woman, who lowered them down from the 
brink of the precipice above. His water he procured for himself, by 
letting down a flagon tied to a stnng, into the black pool beneath the 
fall. 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Or raven on the blasted oak, 

That, watching while the deer is broke,' 

His morsel claims with sullen croak ? " 



MALISE. 

— " Peace ! peace ! to other than to me, 
Thy words were evil augury ; 

1 Quartered. — Everything belonging to the chase was matter of 
solemnity among our ancestors ; but nothing was more so than the 
mode of cutting up, or, as it was technically called, breaking, the 
slaughtered stag. The forester had his allotted portion ; the hounds 
had a certain allowance ; and, to make the division as general as 
possible, the very birds had their share also. "There is a little 
gristle," says Tuberville, "which is upon the spoone of the brisket, 
which we call the raven's bone; and I have seen in some places a 
raven so wont and accustomed to it. that she would never fail to 
croak and cry for it all the time you were in breaking up of the deer, 
and would not depart till she had it." In the very ancient metrical 
romance of Sir Tristrem, that peerless knight, who is said to have 
been the very deviser of all rules of chase, did not omit the ceremony. 

" The rauen he yaue his yiftes 
Sat on the fourched tre." 

The raven might also challenge his rights by the Book of St. 
Albans ; for thus saj-s Dame Juliana Berners : 

" Slitteth anon 

The bely to the side, from the corbyn bone : 
That is corbyn's fee, at the death he will be." 

Jonson, in "The Sad Shepherd," gives a more poetical account 
of the same ceremony : — 

" Marian. He that undoes him 

Doth cleave the brisket bone, upon the spoon 
Of which a little gristle grows — you call it — 
Robin Hood. The raven's bone. 
MariaJi. Now o'er head sat a raven 
On a sere bough, a grown, great bird, and hoarse. 
Who, all the while the deer was breaking up, 
So croak'd and cried for't, as all the huntsmen, 
Especially old Scathlock, thought it ominous." 



1^2 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 

But Still I hold Sir Roderick's blade 

Clan-Alpine's omen and her aid, 

Not aught that, glean'd from heaven or hell, 

Yon fiend-begotten monk can tell. 

The Chieftain joins him, see — and now, 

Together they descend the brow." 

VI. 

And, as they came, with Alpine's Lord 
The Hermit Monk held solemn word: 
" Roderick ! it is a fearful strife, 
For man endow'd with mortal life, 
Whose shroud of sentient clay can still 
Feel feverish pang and fainting chill. 
Whose eye can stare in stony trance. 
Whose hair can rouse like warrior's lance, -= 
'Tis hard for such to view, unfurl'd, 
The curtain of the future world. 
Yet witness every quaking limb. 
My sunken pulse, mine eyeballs dim. 
My soul with harrowing anguish torn. 
This for my Chieftain have I borne ! — 
The shapes that sought my fearful couch, 
A human tongue may ne'er avouch ; 
No mortal man, — save he, who, bred 
Between the living and the dead, 
Is gifted beyond nature's law, — 
Had e'er surviv'd to say he saw. 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 153 

At length the fateful answer came, 

In characters of living flame ! 

Not spoke in word, nor blazed in scroll, 

But borne and branded on my soul ; — 

Which spills the foremost foeman's life,* 

That party conquers in the strife."-—'' 

VII. 

** Thanks, Brian, for thy zeal and care ! 
Good is thine augury, and fair. 
Clan-Alpine ne'er in battle stood. 
But first our broadswords tasted blood. 
A surer victim still I know. 
Self-offer'd to the auspicious blow : 
A spy has sought my land this morn. 
No eve shall witness his return ! 
My followers guard each pass's mouth. 
To east, to westward, and to south ; 
Red Murdoch, bribed to be his guide,^ 
Has charge to lead his steps aside, 



* MS. : " Which foremost spills a foeman's life." 
2 Though this be in the text described as a response of the Tag- 
hairm, or Oracle of the Hide, it was of itself an augury frequently 
attended to. The fate of the battle was often anticipated in the 
imagination of the combatants, by observing which party first shed 
blood. It is said that the Highlanders under Montrose were so 
deeply imbued with this notion, that on the morning of the battle of 
Tippermoor, they murdered a defenceless herdsman, whom they 
found in the fields, merely to secure an advantage of so much con- 
sequence to their party. 

^ MS. : "The clansmen vainly deem'd his guide." 



154 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 



Till, in deep path or dingle brown, 
He light on those shall bring him down/ 
— But see, who comes his news to show ! 
Malise ! what tidings of the foe ? " — 

VIII. 

" At Doune, o'er many a spear and glaive 
Two Barons proud their banners wave. 
I saw the Moray's silver star, 
And mark'd the sable pale of Mar." — 
*' By Alpine's soul, high tidings those ! 

1 love to hear of worthy foes. 

When move they on ? " — '' To-morrow's noon^ 
Will see them here for battle boune." — ^ 
" Then shall it see a meeting stern ! — 
But for the place — say, couldst thou learn 
Nought of the friendly clans of Earn } 
Strengthen'd by them, we well might bide 
The battle on Benledi's side. 
Thou couldst not } — Well ! Clan-Alpine's men 
Shall man the Trosach's shaggy glen ; 
Within Loch Katrine's gorge we'll fight, 
All in our maids' and matrons' sight, 

^ MS. : •' He light on those shall stab him down." 

2 MS. : " ' When move they oxiV [ ' ^'^^\ ^"" \ at noon 

•^ I 'To-day i 

' 'Tis said will see them march from Doune.' 

C riiil\.Gs ^ >> 

' To-morrow then \ ' \ meetmg stern. 
C sees J 

^ For battle bonne — ready for battle. 



Canto IV.J THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 1 55 



Each for his hearth and household fire. 
Father for child, and son for sire, — 
Lover for maid beloved ! — But why — 
Is it the breeze affects mine eye ? 
Or dost thou come, ill-omen'd tear ! 
A messenger of doubt or fear ? 
No ! sooner may the Saxon lance 
Unfix Benledi from his stance. 
Than doubt or terror can pierce through 
The unyielding heart of Roderick Dhu ! 
'Tis stubborn as his trusty targe. — ' 
Each to his post ! — all know their charge." 
The pibroch sounds, the bands advance. 
The broadswords gleam, the banners dance, 
Obedient to the Chieftain's glance. 
— I turn me from the martial roar. 
And see Coir-Uriskin once more. 

IX. 

Where is the Douglas } — he is gone ; 
And Ellen sits on the gray stone 
Fast by the cave, and makes her moan ; 
While vainly Allan's words of cheer 
Are pour'd on her unheeding ear. — 
"He will return — Dear lady, trust ! — 
With joy return ; — he will, he must. 
Well was it time to seek, afar. 
Some refuge from impending war, 

' MS. : " 'Tis stubborn as his Highland l^v^^:' 



56 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV 



When e'en Clan-Alpine's rugged swarm 
Are cow'd by the approaching storm. 
I saw their boats with many a light, 
Floating the live-long yesternight, 
Shifting like flashes darted forth ' 
By the red streamers of the north ; 
I mark'd at morn how close they ride, 
Thick moor'd by the lone islet's side. 
Like wild-ducks couching in the fen, 
When stoops the hawk upon the glen. 
Since this rude race dare not abide 
The peril on the mainland side, 
Shall not thy noble father's care 
Some safe retreat for thee prepare.?" — 

X. 

ELLEN. 

"No, Allan, no! Pretext so kind'' 
My wakeful terrors could not blind. 

1 MS. : "Thick as the flashes darted forth 

By morrice-dancers of the north; 

A J L. ii • f barsres ride, 

And saw at morn then- i ,. f* ^ 

I little fleet, 

Close moor'd by the lone islet's side. 

Since this rude race dare not abide 

Upon their native mountain side, 

'Tis fit that Douglas should provide 

For his dear child some safe abode. 

And soon he comes to point the road." 

2 MS. : " No, Allan, no! His words so kind 

Were but pretexts mj fears to blind, 
When in such solemn tone and grave, 
Douglas a parting blessing gave." 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 157 

When in such tender tone, yet grave, 

Douglas a parting blessing gave, 

The tear that glisten'cl in his eye 

Drown'd not his purpose fix'd on high. 

My soul, though feminine and weak. 

Can image his ; e'en as the lake, 

Itself disturb'd by slightest stroke,' 

Reflects the invulnerable rock. 

He hears report of battle rife. 

He deems himself the cause of strife. 

I saw him redden, when the theme 

Turn'd, Allan, on thine idle dream. 

Of Malcolm Graeme, in fetters bound, 

Which I, thou saidst, about him wound. 

Think'st thou he trow'd thine omen aught .? 

Oh no ! 'twas apprehensive thought 

For the kind youth, — for Roderick too — 

(Let me be just) that friend so true ; 

In danger both, and in our cause! 

Minstrel, the Douglas dare not pause. 

Why else that solemn warning given, 

'If not on earth, we meet in heaven !' 

Why else, to Cambus-kenneth's fane, 

If eve return him not again. 

Am I to hie, and make me known .^ 

Alas ! he goes to Scotland's throne. 

Buys his friend's safety with his own ; — 



1 MS. : " Itself disturb'd by slightest shock, 
Reflects the adamantine rock." 



158 THE LADY OF THE LAKE- [Canto IV. 

tie goes to do — what I had done, 

Had Douglas' daughter been his son ! " — 



XI. 

" Nay, lovely Ellen ! — dearest, nay ! 
If aught should his return delay, 
He only named yon holy fane 
As fitting place to meet again. 
Be sure he's safe ; and for the Graeme, - 
Heaven's blessing on his gallant name ! 
My vision'd sight may yet prove true. 
Nor bode of ill to him or you. 
When did my gifted dream beguile } 
Think of the stranger at the isle. 
And think upon the harpings slow. 
That presaged this approaching woe ! 
Sooth was my prophecy of fear ; 
Believe it when it augurs cheer. 
Would we had left this dismal spot ! 
Ill luck still haunts a fairy grot. 
Of such a wondrous tale I know — 
Dear lady, change that look of woe. 
My harp was wont thy grief to cheer. "- 

ELLEN. 

" Well, be it as thou wilt ; I hear. 
But cannot stop the bursting tear." 
The minstrel tried his simple art, 
But distant far was Ellen's heart. 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 159 

XII. 

BALLAD ' : ALICE BRAND. 

VEerry it is in the good greenwood, 
When the mavis ^ and merle ^ are singing, 

vVhen the deer sweeps by, and the hounds are in cryj 
And the hunter's horn is ringing. 

" O Alice Brand, my native land 
Is lost for love of you ; 
And we must hold by wood ana wold. 
As outlaws wont to do. 

" O Alice, 'twas all for thy locks so bright. 
And 'twas all for thine eyes so blue. 
That on the night of our luckless flight, 
Thy brother bold I slew. 

" Now must I teach to hew the beecn 

The hand that held the glaive, 

For leaves to spread our lowly bed, 

And stakes to fence our cave. 

^^ And for vest of pall, thy fingers small, 
That wont on harp to stray, 
A cloak must shear from the slaughter'd deer 
To keep the cold away." — 

^ See Appendix, Note K. 
2 Thrush. ^ Blackbird. 



lOO THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 

'' O Richard ! if my brother died, 
'Tvvas but a fatal chance ; 
For darkling was the battle tried, 
And fortune sped the lance. ' 

"If pall and vair no more I wear, 
Nor thou the crimson sheer;, 
As warm, we'll say, is the russet gray 
As gay the forest-green. 

" And, Richard, if our lot be hard. 
And lost thy native land, 
Still Alice has her own Richard, 
And he his Alice Brand." 

XIII. 

BALLAD CONTINUED. 

*Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood. 
So blithe Lady Alice is singing ; 
• On the beech's pride, and oak's brown side. 
Lord Richard's axe is ringing. 

Up spoke the moody Elfin King, 
Who won'd within the hill, — * 

* MS. : " 'Twas but a midnight chance; 

For blindfold was the battle plied, 

And fortune held the lance." 

■^ In a long dissertation upon the Fairy Superstitions, published 

in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, the most valuable part of 

which was supplied by my learned and indefatigable friend. Dr. John 

Leyden, most of the circumstances are collected which can throw 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. l6l 

Like wind in the porch of a ruin'd church, 
His voice was ghostly shrill. 

light upon the popular belief which even yet prevails respecting 
them in Scotland. Dr. Graham, author of an entertaining work 
upon the Scenery of the Perthshire Highlands, already frequently 
quoted, has recorded, with great accuracy, the peculiar tenets held 
by the Highlanders on this topic, in the vicinity of Loch Katrine. 
The learned author is inclined to deduce the whole mythology 
from the Druidical system, — an opinion to which there are many 
objections. 

"The Daoine S/iT or Men of Peace of the Highlanders, though 
not absolutely malevolent, are believed to be a peevish, repining 
race of beings, who possessing themselves but a scanty portion of 
happiness, are supposed to envy mankind their more complete and 
substantial enjoyments. They are supposed to enjoy in their sub- 
terraneous recesses, a sort of shadowy happiness, — a tinsel grandeur ; 
which, however, they would willingly exchange for the more solid 
joys of mortality. 

" They are believed to inhabit certain round grassy eminences, 
where they celebrate their nocturnal festivities by the light of the 
moon. About a mile beyond the source of the Forth above Lochcon, 
there is a place called Cotrs/a'afi, or the Cove of the Men of Peace, 
wliich is still supposed to be a favorite place of their residence. In 
the neighborhood are to be seen many round conical eminences ; 
particularly one, near the head of the lake, by the skirts of which 
many are still afraid to pass after sunset. It is believed, that if, on 
Hallow-eve, any person, alone, goes round one of these hills nine 
times, towards the left hand (sim's/rorsufn) a door shall open, by 
which he will be admitted into their subterraneous abodes. Many, 
it is said, of mortal race, have been entertained in their secret 
recesses. There they have been received into the most splendid 
apartments, and regaled with the most sumptuous banquets, and 
delicious wines. Their females surpass the daughters of men in 
beauty. The seemitisrly happy inhabitants pass their time in festivity, 
and in dancing to notes of the softest music. But unhappj- is the 
mortal who joins in their joys, or ventures to partake of their 
dainties. By this indulgence, he forfeits forever the society of men, 
and is bound down irrevocably to the condition of S/ii'ic/i, or Man 
of Peace. 

"A woman, as is reported in the Highland tradition, was con- 



l62 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV, 

*' Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak, 
Our moonlight circle's screen ? ' 

Or who comes here to chase the deer, 
Beloved of our Elfin Queen ? ^ 

Or who may dare on wold to wear 
The fairies' fatal green ? ^ 



eyed in days of yore into the secret recesses of the Men of Peace. 
There she was recognized by one who had formerly been an ordinary 
mortal, but who had, by some fatality, become associated with the 
Shi'ichs. This acquaintance, still retaining some portion of human 
benevolence, warned her of her danger, and counselled her, as she 
valued her liberty, to abstain from eating and drinking with them 
for a certain space of time. She complied with the counsel of her 
friend; and when the period assigned was elapsed, she found herself 
again upon earth, restored to the society of mortals. It is added, 
that when she examined the viands which had been presented to her, 
and which had appeared so tempting to the eye, they were found, 
now that the enchantment was removed, to consist only of the refuse 
of the earth." — P. 107-111. 

* MS. : " Our fairy j'inglefs screen." 

2 See Appendix, Note L. 

^ As the Daoine Ski\ or Men of Peace, wore green habits, they 
were supposed to take offence when any mortals ventured to assume 
their favorite color. Indeed, from some reason, which has been, 
perhaps, originally a general superstition, green is held in Scotland 
to be unlucky to particular tribes and counties. The Caithness men, 
who hold this belief, allege, as a reason, that their bands wore that 
color when they were cut off at the battle of Flodden ; and for the 
same reason they avoid crossing the Ord on a Monday', being the 
day of the week on which their ill-omened array set forth. Green 
is also disliked by those of the name of Ogilvy; but more especially 
is it held fatal to the whole clan of Grahame. It is remembered of 
an aged gentleman of that name, that when his horse fell in a fox- 
chase, he accounted for it at once, by observing, that the whip-cord 
attached to his lash was of this unlucky color. 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 1 63 

"' Up, Urgan, up ! to yon mortal hie, 
For thou wert christen'd man ; ' 
For cross or sign thou wilt not Hy, 
For mutter'd word or ban. 

1 The Elves were supposed greatly to envv the privileges acquired 
bj Christian initiation, and they gave to those mortals who had 
fallen into their power, a certain precedence, founded upon this 
advantageous distinction. Tamlane, in the old ballad, describes his 
own rank in the fairy procession : — 

" For I ride on a milk-white steed. 
And aye nearest the town ; 
Because I was a christen'd knight, 
They gave me that renown." 

I presume, that in the Danish ballad of the Elfin Grey (see 
Appendix, Note K.) the obstinacy of the " Weist Elf," who would 
not flee for cross or sign, is to be derived from the circumstance of 
his having been "christen'd man." 

How eager the Elves were to >btain for their oflfspring the- pre- 
rogatives of Christianity, will be proved by the following story : — 
"In the district called Haga, in Iceland, dwelt a nobleman called 
Sigward Forster, who had an Intrigue with one of the subterranean 
females. The elf became pregnant and exacted from her lover a 
firm promise that he would procure the baptism of the infant. At 
the appointed time, the mother came to the churchyard, on the wall 
of which she placed a golden cup, and a stole for the priest, agreeable 
to the custom of making an offering at baptism. She then stood a 
little apart. When the priest left the church, he inquired the mean- 
ing of what he saw, and demanded of Sigward if he avowed himself 
the father of the child. But Sigward, ashamed of the connexion^ 
denied the paternity. He was then interrogated if he desired that 
the child should be baptized ; but this also he answered in the 
negative, lest, by such request, he should admit himself to be the 
father. On which the child was left untouched and unbaptized. 
Whereupon the mother, in extreme wrath, snatched up the^ infant 
and the cup, and retired, leaving the priestly cope, of which frag- 
ments are still in preservation. But this female denounced and 
imposed upon Sigward, and his posterity, to the ninth generation, a 
singular disease, with which many of his descendants are aflrlicted at 
this day." Thus wrote Einar Dudmond, pastor of the parish of 



1 64 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 

" Lay on him the curse of the wither'd heart, 

The curse of the sleepless eye ; 
Till he wish and pray that his life would part. 

Nor yet find leave to die." 

XIV. 

BALLAD CONTINUED. 

*Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood. 
Though the birds have still'd their singing ; 

The evening blaze doth Alice raise, 
And Richard is fagots bringing. 

Up Urgan starts, that hideous dwarf, 

Before Lord Richard stands, 
And as he cross'd and bless'd himself, 
"I fear not sign," quoth the grisly elf, 

''That is made with bloody hands." 

But out then spoke she, Alice Brand, 

That woman void of fear, — 
" And if there's blood upon his hand, 

'Tis but the blood of deer." — 

" Now loud thou liest, thou bold of mood ! 

It cleaves unto his hand, 
The stain of thine own kindly blood, 

The blood of Ethert Brand." 

Garpsdale, in Iceland, a man profoundly versed in learning, from 
whose manuscript it was extracted by the learned Torfgeus. — His- 
toria Hrolfi Krakii, Hafjiice, 1"]!$, prefaiio. 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 165 

Then forward stepp'd she, Alice Brand, 

And made the holy sign, — 
*'And if there's blood on Richard's hand, 

A spotless hand is wine. 

'And I conjure thee. Demon elf, 

By Him whom Demons fear. 
To show us whence thou art thyself, 
And what thine errand here?" — 

XV. 

BALLAD CONTINUED. 

" 'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in Fairy-land, 

When fairy birds are singing, 
When the court doth ride by their monarch's side, 

With bit and bridle ringing : 

"And gaily shines the Fairy-land, 

But all is glistening show,i 
Like the idle gleam that December's beam 

Can dart on ice and snow. 

" And fading, like that varied gleam. 

Is our inconstant shape. 
Who now like knight and lady seem. 

And now like dwarf and ape. 

** It was between the night and day, 
When the Fairy King has power, 

See Appendix, Note M. 



1 66 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto iv. 

That I sunk clown in a sinful fray, 
And, 'tvvixt life and death, was snatch'd away 
To the joyless Elfin bower.* 

*' But wist I of a woman bold, 

Who thrice my brow durst sign, 
I might regain my mortal mold, 

As fair a form as thine." 

She cross'd him once — she cross'd him twice — 
That lady was so brave ; 

^ The subjects of Fairy-land were recruited from the regions of 
humanity by a sort of crimping system, which extended to adults as 
well as to infants. Many of those who were in this world supposed 
to have discharged the debt of nature, had only become denizens of 
the " Londe of Faery." In the beautiful Fairy Romance of Orfee 
and Heurodiis (Orpheus and Eurydice) in the Auchinleck MS., is 
the following striking enumeration of persons thus abstracted from 
middle earth. Mr. Ritson unfortunately published this romance 
from a copy in which the following, and many other highly poetical 
passages do not occur : — 

*' Then he gan biholde about al, 
And seighe ful liggeand with in the wal, 
Of folk that were thidder y-brought, 
And thought dede and nere nought; 
Some stode with outen hadde; 
And sum none armes nade; 
And sum thurch the bodi hadde woundc ; 
And sum lay wode y-bounde; 
And sum armed ^n hors sete; 
And sum estrangied as thai ete; 
And sum war in water adreynt ; 
And sum with fire al forschreynt; 
Wives ther lay on childe bedde; 
Sum dede, and sum awedde ; 
And wonder fele ther lay besides, 
Right as thai slepe her undertides; 
Eche was thus in the warld y-nome, 
With fairi thider y-come." 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 167 

The fouler grew his gobHn hue, 
The darker grew the cave. 

She cross'd him thrice, that lady bold ; 

He rose beneath her hand 
The fairest knight on Scottish mold, 

Her brother, Ethert Brand ! 

Merry it is in good greenwood. 

When the mavis and merle are singing, 

But merrier were they in Dunfermline gray, 
When all the bells were ringing. 



XVI. 

Just as the minstrel sounds were stay'd, 

A stranger climb'd the steepy glade : 

His martial step, his stately mien. 

His hunting suit of Lincoln green. 

His eagle glance, remembrance claims — 

'Tis Snowdoun's Knight, 'tis James Fitz-James. 

Ellen beheld as in a dream, 

Then, starting, scarce suppress'd a scream : 

" O stranger ! in such hour of fear. 

What evil hap has brought thee here } " — 

" An evil hap how can it be, 

That bids me look again on thee ? 

By promise bound, my former guide 

Met me betimes this morning tide, 



l68 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 

And marshall'd, over bank and bourne, 
The happy path of my return." — 
"The happy path ! — what! said he nought 
Of war, of battle to be fought. 
Of guarded pass ? " — ''No, by my faith ! 
Nor saw I aught could augur scathe." — 
" O haste thee, Allan, to the kern, 
— Yonder his tartans I discern; 
Learn thou his purpose, and conjure 
That he will guide the stranger sure ! — 
What prompted thee, unhappy man } 
The meanest serf in Roderick's clan 
Had not been bribed by love or fear. 
Unknown to him to guide thee here." 

XVII. 

** Sweet Ellen, dear my life must be. 
Since it is worthy care from thee ; 
Yet life I hold but idle breath, 
When love or honor's weigh'd with death. 
Then let me profit by my chance. 
And speak my purpose bold at once. 
I come to bear thee from a wild, 
Where ne'er before such blossom smiled : 
By this soft hand to lead thee far 
From frantic scenes of feud and war. 
Near Bochastle my horses wait ' 
They bear us soon to Stirling gate. 

' MS. : ''By Cambusmore my horses wait." 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 169 

I'll place thee in a lovely bower, 

I'll ofuard thee like a tender flower" 



** O ! hush, Sir Knight ! 'twere female art, 

To say I do not read thy heart ; 

Too much, before, my selfish ear 

Was idly soothed my praise to hear.* 

That fatal bait hath lured thee back, 

In deathful hour, o'er dangerous track ; 

And how, O how, can I atone 

The wreck my vanity brought on ! — 

One way remains — I'll tell him all — ■ 

Yes ! struggling bosom, forth it shall ! 

Thou, whose light folly bears the blame, 

Buy thine own pardon with thy shame ! 

But first — my father is a man 

Outlaw'd and exiled, under ban ; 

The price of blood is on his head. 

With me 'twere infamy to wed. — 

Still would'st thou speak t — then hear the truth! 

Fitz-James, there is a noble youth, — 

If yet he is \ — exposed for me 

And mine to dread extremity — 

Thou hast the secret of my heart ; 

Forgive, be generous, and depart ! " 

1 MS. : " Was \d\y fo7id thy praise to hear." 



I70 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV- 

XVIII. 

Fitz-James knew every wily train 

A lady's fickle heart to gain, 

But .here he knew and felt them vain. 

There shot no glance from Ellen's eye, 

To give her steadfast speech the lie ; 

In maiden confidence she stood, 

Though mantled in her cheek the blood, 

And told her love with such a sigh 

Of deep and hopeless agony, 

As death had seal'd her Malcolm's doom, 

And she sat sorrowing on his tomb. 

Hope vanished from Fitz-James's eye, 

But not with hope fled sympathy. 

He proffer'd to attend her side. 

As brother would a sister guide. — 

"O ! little know'st thou Roderick's heart! 

Safer for both we go apart. 

O haste thee, and from Allan learn, 

If thou may'st trust yon wily kern." 

With hand upon his forehead laid, 

The conflict of his mind to shade 

A parting step or two he made ; 

Then, as some thought had cross'd his brain, 

He paused, and turn'd, and came again. 



Chnto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I71 



XIX. 

" Hear, lady, yet a parting word ! — 

It chanced in fight that my poor sword 

Preserved the life of Scotland's lord. 

This ring the grateful Monarch gave,' 

And bade, when I had boon to crave, 

To bring it back and boldly claim 

The recompense that I would name. 

Ellen, I am no courtly lord, 

But one who lives by lance and sword, 

Whose castle is his helm and shield, 

His lordship the embattled field. 

What from a prince can I demand, 

Who neither reck of state nor land } 

EUen, thy hand — the ring is thine ; ^ 

Each guard and usher knows the sign. 

Seek thou the king without delay ; ^ 

This signet shall secure thy way ; 

And claim thy suit, whate'er it be, 

As ransom of his pledge to me." 

He placed the golden circlet on, 

Paused — kiss'd her hand — and then was grone. 



t>' 



1 MS. 

2 MS. 

3 MS. 



This ring of gold the monarch gave." 
Permit this hand — the ring is thine." 
' ' Seek thou the King, and on \h.y knee 
Put forth thy suit, whate'er it be, 
As ransom of his pledge to me ; 
Mj name and this shall make tHy way.' 
Ke put the little signet on." 



172 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 



The aged Minstrel stood aghast, 

So hastily Fitz-James shot past. 

He join'd his guide, and winding down 

The ridges of the mountain brown. 

Across the stream they took their way, 

That joins Loch Katrine to Achray. 

XX. 

All in the Trosach's glen was still, 
Noontide was sleeping on the hill : 
Sudden his guide whoop'd loud and high — - 
" Murdoch ! was that a signal cry .? " 
He stammer'd forth, — "I shout to scare ' 
Yon raven from his dainty fare." 
He look'd--he knew the raven's prey. 
His own brave steed : — " Ah ! gallant gray ! 
For thee — for me, perchance — 'twere well 
We ne'er had seen the Trosach's dell. — 
Murdoch, move first — but silently; 
Whistle or whoop, and thou shalt die!" 
Jealous and sullen on they fared, 
Each silent, each upon his guard. 

XXI. 

Now wound the path its dizzy ledge 
Around a precipice's edge, 

5 MS. : " He stammer'd forth confused reply: 

' Sf ^?."'. , \ I shouted but to scare 
♦ Sir Knight, / 

Yon raven from his dainty fare.'" 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 1 73 

When lo ! a wasted female form, 
Blighted by wrath of sun and storm, 
In tatter'd weeds and wild array/ 
Stood on a cliff beside the way, 
And glancing round her restless eye, 
Upon the wood, the rock, the sky, 
Seem'd nought to mark, yet all to spy. 
Her brow was wreath'd with gaudy broom ; 
With gesture wild she waved a plume 
Of feathers which the eagles fling 
To crag and cliff from dusky wing ; 
Such spoils her desperate step had sought. 
Where scarce was footing for the goat. 
The tartan plaid she first descried, 
And shriek'd till all the rocks replied ; 
As loud she laugh'd when near they drew, 
For then the Lowland garb she knew ; 
And then her hands she wildly wrung. 
And then she wept, and then she sung — 
She sung! — the voice in better time. 
Perchance to harp or lute might chime ; 
And now though strain 'd and roughen'd, still 
Rung wildly sweet to dale and hill. 

XXII. 

SONG. 

They bid me sleep, they bid me pray, 

They say my brain is warp'd and wrung' — = 

1 MS. : " Wrapp'd in a tatter'd mantle gray." 



174 '^HE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 

I cannot sleep on Highland brae, 
I cannot pray in Highland tongue. 

But were I now where Allan ' glides, 

Or heard my native Devan's tides, 

So sweetly would I rest, and pray 

That heaven would close my wintry day \ 

'Twas thus my hair they bade me braid. 
They bade me to the church repair ; 

It was my bridal morn they said, 

And my true love would meet me there. 

But woe betide the cruel guile. 

That drown'd in blood the morning smile ! 

And woe betide the fairy dream ! 

I onlv waked to sob and scream. 

xxni. 

" Who is this maid t what means her lay } 
She hovers o'er the hollow way, 
And flutters wide her mantle gray, 
As the lone heron spreads his wing. 
By twilight, o'er a haunted spring." — 
"'Tis Blanche of Devan," Murdoch said,^ 
*' A erased and captive Lowland maid, 
Ta'en on the morn she was a bride. 
When Roderick foray'd Devan-side. 

1 The Allan and Devan are two beautiful streams, the latter 
celebrated in the poetry of Burns, which descend from the hills ol 
Perthshire into the great carse or plain of Stirling. 

2 MS. : " ' A Saxon born, a crazy maid — 

'Tis Blanche of Devan,' Murdoch said." 



CANTO IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



175 



The gay bridegroom resistance made, 

And felt our Chief's unconquer'd blade. 

I marvel she is now at large, 

But oft she 'scapes from Maudlin's charge. — 

Hence, brain-sick fool!" — He raised his bow:-^ 

"Now, if thou strikest her but one blow, 

I'll pitch thee from the cliff as far 

As ever peasant pitch'd a bar ! " — 

" Thanks, champion, thanks ! " the Maniac cr^ed, 

And press'd her to Fitz-James's side. 

"See the gray pennons I prepare,^ 

To seek my true-love through the air ! 

I will not lend that savage groom,^ 

To break his fall, one downy plume ! 

No! — deep amid disjointed stones. 

The wolves shall batten on his bones, 

And then shall his detested plaid. 

By brush and brier in mid air staid, 

Wave forth a banner fair and free, 

Meet signal for their revelry." — 

XXIV. 

" Hush thee, poor maiden, and be still ! " — 
O ! thou look'st kindly, and I will. — 

1 MS. : "With thee these pennons will I share," 

Then seek my true love through the air." 

2 MS. : " But I'll not lend that savage groom, 

To break his fall one downy plume! 
Deep, deep 'mid von disjointed stones, 
The wolf shall batten on his bones." 



76 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, [Canto IV 

Mine eye has dried and wasted been, 
But still it loves the Lincoln green ; 
And, though mine ear is all unstrung, 
Still, still it loves the Lowland tongue. 

*' For O my sweet William was forester true," 
He stole poor Blanche's heart away ! 

His coat it was all of the greenwood hue,^ 
And so blithely he trill'd the Lowland lay ! 

'" It was not that I meant to tell . . . 
But thou art wise and guessest well.*' 
Then, in a low and broken tone, 
And hurried note, the song went on. 
Still on the Clansman, fearfully. 
She fixed her apprehensive eye ; 
Then turn'd it on the Knight, and then 
Her look glanced wildly o'er the glen. 



XXV. 

"The toils are pitch'd, and the stakes are set. 

Ever singing merrily, merrily ; 
The bows they bend, and the knives they whet, 

Hunters live so cheerily. 

^ MS. : " Sweet William was a woodsman true, 
He stole poor Blanche's heart awaj." 

2 MS. : '• His coat was of the forest hue. 

And sweet he sung the Lowland lay." 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 1 77 

"It was a stag, a stag of ten/ 

Bearing its branches sturdily ; 
He came stately down the glen, 

Ever sing hardily, hardily. 

" It was there he met with a wounded doe, 

She was bleeding deathfully ; 
She warn'd him of the toils below, 

O, so faithfully, faithfully ! 

'' He had an eye, and he could heed. 

Ever sing warily, warily ; 
He had a foot and he could speed — 

Hunters watch so narrowly." ^ 



XXVI. 

Fitz-James's mind was passion-toss'd, 
When Ellen's hints and fears were lost ; 
But Murdoch's shout suspicion wrought, 
And Blanche's song conviction brought. — 
Not like a stag that spies the snare, 
But lion of the hunt aware. 
He waved at once his blade on high. 
" Disclose thy treachery, or die ! " 

i Having ten branches on his antlers. 

2 " No machinery can be conceived more clumsy for effecting the 
dehverance of a distressed hero, than the introduction of a mad 
vyoman, who, without knowing or caring about the wanderer, warns 
hmi, by a song, to take care of the ambush that was set for him. The 



178 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV 

Forth at full speed the Clansman flew/ 

But in his race his bow he drew. 

The shaft just grazed Fitz-James's crest, 

And thrill'd in Blanche's faded breast. — 

Murdoch of Alpine ! prove thy speed, 

For ne'er had Alpine's son such need ! 

With heart of fire, and foot of wind. 

The fierce avenger is behind ! 

Fate judges of the rapid strife — 

The forfeit death — the prize is life ! 

Thy kindred ambush lies before. 

Close couch'd upon the heathery moor ; 

Them couldst thou reach ! — it may not be — ^ 

Thine ambush'd kin thou ne'er shall see, 

The fiery Saxon gains on thee ! 

Resistless speeds the deadly thrust, 

As lightning strikes the pine to dust ; 

With foot and hand Fitz-James must strain, 

Ere he can win his blade again. 

maniacs of poetry have indeed had a prescriptive right to be musical, 
since the days of Ophelia downwards ; but it is rather a rash exten- 
sion of this privilege to make them sing good sense, and to make 
sensible people be guided by them." — Jeffrey. 
^ MS. : " Forth at full speed the Clansman went; 
But in his race his bow he bent, 
Halted — and back an arrow sent." 

2 MS. "It may not be — 

The fiery Saxon gains on thee, 
Thine ambush'd kin thou ne'er shalt see ! 
Resistless as the lightning's flame, 
The thrust betwixt his shoulder came." 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 



179 



Bent o'er the fall'n, with falcon eye/ 
He grimly smiled to see him die : 
Then slower wended back his way, 
Where the poor maiden bleeding lay. 

XXVII. 

She sate beneath the birchen-tree, 
Her elbow resting on her knee ; 
She had withdrawn the fatal shaft, 
And gazed on it, and feebly laugh'd ; 
Her wreath of broom and feathers gray. 
Daggled with blood beside her lay. 
The Knight to stanch the life-stream tried, 
" Stranger, it is in vain ! " she cried. 
'' This hour of death has given me more 
Of reason's power than years before ; 
For, as these ebbing veins decay, 
My frenzied visions fade away. 
A helpless injured wretch I die,^ 
And something tells me in thine eye, 

That thou wert mine avenger born. 

Seest thou this tress .? — O ! still I've worn 
This little tress of yellow hair, 
Through danger, frenzy, and despair i 
It once was bright and clear as thine, 
But blood and tears have dimm'd its shine, 

MS. : " Then o'er him hung, with falcon eje, 
And grimly smil'd to see him die." 
2 MS. : "A guiltless injured wretch I die." 



l8C THE LADY OF THE LAKE. LCanto IV. 



I will not tell thee when 'twas shred, 
Nor from what guiltless victim's head — 
My brdn would turn! — but it shall wave' 
Like plumage on thy helmet brave, 
Till sun and wind shall bleach the stain, 
And thou wilt bring it me again. — 
I waver still. — O God ! more bright 
Let reason beam her parting light ! — 
O ! by thy knighthood's honor'd sign, 
And for thy life preserved by mine, 
When thou shalt see a darksome man, 
Who boasts him Chief of Alpine's clan. 
With tartans broad and shadowy plume. 
And hand of blood, and brow of gloom, 
Be thy heart bold, thy weapon strong 
And wreak poor Blanche of Devan's wrong— 
They watch for thee by pass and fell . . . 
Avoid the path . . . O God! . . . farewell" 

XXVIII. 

A kindly heart had brave Fitz-James ; 
Fast pour'd his eyes at pity's claims, 
And now with mingled grief and ire, 
He saw the murdered maid expire. 
" God, in my need, be my relief,^ 
As I wreak this on yonder Chief 1 " 

^ MS. : ** But now, mj champion, — it shall wave." 
■"* MS. : " God in my need, to me be true, 

As I wreak this on Roderick Dhu," 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. l8l 



A lock from Blanche's tresses fair 

He blended with her bridegroom's hair ; 

The mingled braid in blood he dyed, 

And placed it on his bonnet-side: 

*' By Him whose word is truth ! I swear 

No other favor will I wear, 

Till this sad token I imbrue 

In the best blood of Roderick Dhu ! 

— But hark ! what means yon faint halloo ? 

The chase is up, — but they shall know, 

The stag at bay's a dangerous foe." 

Barr'd from the known but guarded way. 

Through copse and cliff Fitz-James must stray, 

And oft must change his desperate track. 

By stream and precipice turn'd back. 

Heartless, fatigued, and faint, at length, 

From lack of food and loss of strength, 

He couch'd him in a thicket hoar. 

And thought his toils and perils o'er : — 

" Of all my rash adventures past, 

This frantic feat must prove the last ! 

Who e'er so mad but might have guess'd, 

That all this Highland hornet's nest 

Would muster up in swarms so soon 

As e'er they heard of bands at Doune.? — 

Like bloodhounds now they search me out, — 

Hark to the whistle and the shout ! — 

If farther through the wilds I go, 

I only fall upon the foe : 



£82 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV 

rn couch me here till evening gray, 
Then darkling try my dangerous way." 

XXIX. 

The shades of eve come slowly down, 

The woods are wrapt in deeper brown, 

The owl awakens from her dell, 

The fox is heard upon the fell ; 

Enough remains of glimmering light 

To guide the wanderer's steps aright. 

Yet not enough from far to show 

His figure to the watchful foe. 

With cautious step, and ear awake. 

He climbs the crag and threads the brake ; 

And not the summer solstice, there, 

Temper'd the midnight mountain air. 

But every breeze, that swept the wold, 

Benumb'd his drenched limbs with cold. 

In dread, in danger, and alone, 

Famish'd and chill'd, through ways unknown. 

Tangled and steep, he journey'd on ; 

Till, as the rock's huge point he turn'd, 

A watch-fire close before him burn'd. 

XXX. 

Beside its embers red and clear,' 
Bask'd, in his plaid, a mountaineer ; 

* MS. : " B J the decaying flame was laid 

A warrior in his Highland plaid." 



:anto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 183 

And up he sprung with sword in hand, — 

'* Thy name and purpose ! Saxon, stand ! " — 

" A stranger." — " What dost thou require ? " — 

" Rest and a guide, and food and fire. 

My life's beset, my path is lost. 

The gale has chill'd my limbs with frost." — 

" Art thou a friend to Roderick .? " — *' No." — 

" Thou darest not call thyself a foe }'' — 

" I dare ! to him and all his band ^ 

He brings to aid his murderous hand." — 

''Bold words! — but, though the beast of game 

The privilege of chase may claim. 

Though space and law the stag we lend, 

Ere hound we slip, or bow we bend. 

Who ever reck'd, where, how, or when, 

The prowling fox was trapp'd or slain } ^ 

Thus treacherous scouts, — yet sure they lie, 

Who say thou camest a secret spy ! " 

" They do, by heaven ! — Come Roderick Dhu, 

And of his clan the boldest two, 



1 MS. : " I dare ! to him and all the swarm 

He brings to aid his murderous arm." 
2 St. John actually used this illustration when engaged in con- 
futing the plea of law proposed for the unfortunate Earl of Strafford : 
" It was true we gave laws to hares and deer, because thej are beasts 
of chase; but it was never accounted either cruelty or foul play to 
knock foxes or wolves on the head as they can be found, because 
they are beasts of prey. In a word, the law and humanity were alike ; 
the one being more fallacious, and the other more barbarous, than 
in any age had been vented in such an authoritv." — Clarendon's 
History of the Rebellioji. Oxford, 1702, fol. vol., p. 183. 



1 84 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 

And let me but till morning rest, 

I write the falsehood on their crest." — 

*' If by the blaze I mark aright, 

Thou bear'st the belt and spur of Knight." 

"Then by these tokens mayest thou know 

Each proud oppressor's mortal foe." — 

" Enough, enough ; sit down and share 

A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare." 



XXXI. 

He gave him of his Highland cheer, 
The harden'd flesh of mountain deer ; ' 

1 The Scottish Highlanders, in former times, had a concise mode 
of cooking their venison, or rather of dispensing with cooking it, 
which appears greatly to have surprised the French whom chanc& 
made acquainted with it. The Vidame of Charters, when a hostage 
in England, during the reign of Edward VI., was permitted to trave. 
into Scotland, and penetrated as far as the remote Highlands {ati fin 
fond des Satcvages). After a great hunting party, at which a most 
wonderful quantity of game was destroyed, he saw these Scottish 
savages devour a part of their venison raw, without any further 
preparation than compressing it between two batons of wood, so as 
to force out the blood, and render it extremely hard. This they 
reckoned a great delicacy; and when the Vidame partook of it, his 
compliance with their taste rendered him extremely popular. This 
curious trait of manners was communicated b}' Mons. de Mont- 
morency, a great friend of the Vidame, to Brantome, by whom it is 
recorded in Vies des Homnies Illicstres, Discourse Ixxxix. art. 14. 
The process by which the raw venison was rendered eatable is 
described very minutely in the romance of Perceforest, where 
Estonne, a Scottish knight-errant, having slain a deer, says to his 
companion Claudius : " Sire, or mangerez vous et moy aussi. Voire 
si nous anions de feu, dit Claudius. Par I'ame de mon pere, dist 
Estonne, ie vous atourneray et cuiray a la maniere de nostre pays 



Canto IV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 185 



Dry fuel on the fire he laid, 
And bade the Saxon share his plaid. 
He tended him like welcome guest, 
Then thus his further speech addressed. 
*' Stranger, I am to Roderick Dhu 
A clansman born, a kinsman true ; 
Each word against his honor spoke. 
Demands of me avenging stroke ; 
Yet more, — upon thy fate, 'tis said, 
A mighty augury is laid. 

comme pour cheualier errant. Lors tira son espee, et sen vmx 
a la branche dung arbre, et y fait vng grant trou, et puis tend la 
branche bien dieux piedx, et boute la cuisse du cerf entredeux, ei 
puis prent le licol de son cheval, et en lye la branche, et destraint si 
fort, que le sang et les humeurs de la chair saillent hors, et demeure 
la chaire doulce et seiche. Lors prent la chair, et oste ius le cuir, et 
la chaire demeure aussi blanche comme si ce feust dung chappon. 
Dont dist a Claudius, Sire, ie la vous ay cuiste a la guise de mon 
pays, vous ens pouez manger hardyement, car ie mangeray premier. 
Lors met sa main a sa selle en vng lieu quil y auoit, et tire hors sel 
et poudre de poiure et gingembre, mesle ensemble, et le iecte dessus, 
et le frote sus bien fort, puis le couppe a moytie et en donne a 
Claudius I'une des pieces, et puis mort en Tautre aussi sauourese- 
ment quil est aduis que il en feist la pouldre voller. Qiiant Claudius 
veit quil le mangeoit de tel goust, il en print grant faim, et com- 
mence a manger, tresvoulentiers, et dist a Estonne : Par I'ame de 
moy, ie ne mangeay oncquesmais de chair atournee de tell guise : 
mais doresenauant ie ne me retourneroye pas hors de mon chemin 
par auoir la cuite. Sire, dist Estonne, quant is suis en desers 
d'Escosse, dont ie suis seigneur, ie cheuaucheray huit iours ou quinze 
que ie d'entreray en chastel ne en maison, et si ne verray feu ne 
personne viuant fors que bestes sauuages, et de celles mangeray 
atournees en ceste maniere, et mieulx me plaira que la viande de 
Tempereur. Ainsi sen vont mangeant et cheuauchant iusques adonc 
quilz arriuerent sur une moult belle fontaine queestoit en vne valee. 



1 86 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV, 

It rests with me to wind my horn, — 

Thou art with numbers overborne : 

It rests with me, here, brand to brana. 

Worn as thou art, to bid thee stand : 

But, not for clan, nor kindred's cause, 

Will I depart from honor's laws ; 

To assail a wearied man were shame, 

And stranger is a holy name ; 

Guidance and rest, and food and fire 

In vain he never must require. 

Then rest thee here till dawn of day ; 

Myself will guide thee on the way. 

O'er stock and stone, through watch and ward, 

Till past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard, 

As far as Coilantogle's ford ; 

From thence thy warrant is thy sword." -r- 

*' I take thy courtesy, by Heaven, 

As freely as 'tis nobly given ! " — 

*' Well, rest thee; for the bittern's cry 

Sings us the lake's wild lullaby." 

With that he shook the gather'd heath. 

And spread his plaid upon the wreath ; 

Q^uant Estonne la vit il dist a Claudius, aliens boire a ceste fontaine. 
Or beuuons, dist Estonne, du boire que le grant dieu a pourueu a 
toutes gens, et que me plaist mieulx que les ceruoises d'Angleterre." 
— La Treselega7ite Hystoire du tresnoble Roy Perceforest. Paris, 
1531, fol. tome i. fol. Iv. vers. 

After all, it may be doubted whether la ckaire nostree, for so the 
French called the venison thus summarily prepared, was anything 
more than a mere rude kind of deer-ham. 



CantoJEV.] the lady of the LAKE. i8; 

And the brave foemen, side by side, 
Lay peaceful down like brothers tried, 
And slept until the dawning beam ' 
Purpled the mountain and the stream. 

^ MS. : •■' And slept until the dawning streak 
Purpled <-bf^ mountain and «^he lake." 



CANTO FIFTH. 

THE COMBAl. 

I. 

Fair as the earliest beam of eastern light, 

When first, by the bewilder'd pilgrim spied 
It smiles upon the dreary brow of night, 

And silvers o'er the torrent's foaming tide. 
And lights the fearful path on mountain side ; — ' 

Fair as that beam, although the fairest far, 
Giving to horror grace, to danger pride. 

Shine martial Faith, and Courtesy's bright star. 
Through all the wreckful storms that cloud the brow of 
War. 

II. 

That early beam, so fair and sheen. 
Was twinkling through the hazel screen, 
When, rousing at its glimmer red, 
The warriors left their lowly bed, 
Look'd out upon the dappled sky, 
Mutter'd their soldier matins by. 
And then awaked their fire, to steal. 
As short and rude, their soldier meal. 

1 MS. : "And lights the fearful vvaj along its side." 

i88 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 1 89 

That o'er, the Gael ' around him threw 
His graceful plaid of varied hue, 
And true to promise, led the way, 
By thicket green and mountain gray. 
A wildering path ! — they winded now 
Along the precipice's brow. 
Commanding the rich scenes beneath, 
The windings of the Forth and Teith, 
And all the vales between that lie. 
Till Stirling's turrets melt in sky; 
Then, sunk in copse, their farthest glance 
Gain'd not the length of horseman's lance. 
'Twas oft so steep, the foot was fain 
Assistance from the hand to gain ; 
So tangled oft, that bursting through, 
Each hawthorn shed her showers of dew, — 
That diamond dew, so pure and clear, 
It rivals all but Beauty's tear 

III. 

At length they came where stern and steep,^ 

The hill sinks down upon the deep. 

Here Vennachar in silver flows. 

There, ridge on ridge, Benledi rose ; 

Ever the hollow path twined on, 

Beneath steep bank and threatening stone ; 

1 The Scottish Highlander calls himself Gael, or Gaul, and terms 
the Lowlanders, Sassejzack, or Saxons. 

^ MS. : " At length they paced the mountain's side, 
And saw beneath the waters wide " 



IQO 772^^" LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V, 

An hundred men might hold the post 
With hardihood against a host. 
The rugged mountain's scanty cloak 
Was dwarfish shrubs of birch and oak.- 
With shingles bare, and cliffs between, 
And patches bright of bracken green, 
And heather black, that waved so high. 
It held the copse in rivalry. 
But where the lake slept deep and still, 
Dank osiers fringed the swamp and hill ; 
And oft both path and hill were torn. 
Where wintry torrents down had borne, 
And heap'd upon the cumber'd land 
Its wreck of gravel, rocks, and sand. 
So toilsome was the road to trace. 
The guide abating of his pace. 
Led slowly through the pass's jaws. 
And ask'd Fitz-James by what strange cause 
He sought these wilds, traversed by few, 
Without a pass from Roderick Dhu. 

IV. 

** Brave Gael, my pass in danger tried, 
Hangs in my belt, and by my side ; 
Yet, sooth to tell," the Saxon said, 
<*I dreamt not now to claim its aid.^ 

1 MS. : " The rugged mountain's stunted screen 

Was dwarfish \ ^^^'^^^ \ with cliffs between." 
I copse J 

^ MS. : " I dreamed not now to draw my blade." 



Canto V.] THE LADV OF THE LAKE, I91 

When here, but three days since, I came, 
Bewilder'd in pursuit of game, 
All seem'd as peaceful and as still, 
As the mist slumbering on yon hill; 
Thy dangerous chief was then afar, 
Nor soon expected back from war. 
Thus said, at least, my mountain-guide. 
Though deep perchance the villain lied.'* 
" Yet why a second venture try .^ " — 
"A warrior thou, and ask me why! — 
Moves our free course by such fix'd cause 
As gives the poor mechanic laws ? 
Enough, I sought to drive away 
The lazy hours of peaceful day ; 
Slight cause will then suffice to guide 
A Knight's free footsteps far and wide, — ' 
A falcon flown, a greyhound stray'd, 
The merry glance of mountain maid : 
Or, if a path be dangerous known, 
The danger's self is lure alone." 



V. 

"Thy secret keep, I urge thee not; — ' 
Yet, ere again ye sought this spot, 
Say, heard ye not of Lowland war, 
Against Clan-Alpine, rais'd by Mar ? " 

» MS. : «' My errant footsteps ^ | ^^^ ^^^ ^.^^^^ 

A knight s Dold wanderings J 
8 MS. : *'Thy secret keep, I ask it not." 



192 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V 

— " No, by my word ; — of bands prepared 
To guard King James's sports I heard ; 
Nor doubt I aught, but, when they hear 
This muster of the mountaineer, 
Their pennons will abroad be flung. 
Which else in Doune had peaceful hung." — * 
" Free be they flung ! for we were loth 
Their silken fold should feast the moth. 
Free be they flung ! — as free shall wave 
Clan-Alpine's pine in banner brave. 
But, Stranger, peaceful since you came, 
Bewilder'd in the mountain game, 
Whence the bold boast by which you show 
Vich Alpine's vow'd and mortal foe } " — 
** Warrior, but yester-morn, I knew 
Nought of thy Chieftain, Roderick Dhu, 
Save as an outlaw'd desperate man. 
The chief of a rebellious clan. 
Who in the Regent's court and sight. 
With ruffian dagger stabb'd a knight ; 
Yet this alone might from his part 
Sever each true and loyal heart." 

VI. 

Wrathful at such arraignment foul. 

Dark lower'd the clansman's sable scowl. 

A space he paused, then sternly said, 

" And heard'st thou why he drew his blade } 

» MS. : '' Which else in hall had peaceful hung." 



CANTO v.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 193 



Heard'st thou that shameful word and blow- 
Brought Roderick's vengeance on his foe ? 
What reck'd the Chieftain if he stood 
On Highland heath, or Holy-Rood ? 
He rights such wrong where it is given, 
If it were in the court of heaven." — 
" Still was it outrage ; — yet, 'tis true, 
Not then claim'd sovereignty his due ; 
While Albany, with feeble hand. 
Held borrow'd truncheon of command, 
The young King mew'd in StirHng tower, 
Was stranger to respect and power.' 
But then, thy Chieftain's robber life ! — 
Winning mean prey by causeless strife. 
Wrenching from ruin'd Lowland swain 
His herds and harvest rear'd in vain. — 
Methinks a soul like thine should scorn 
The spoils from such foul foray borne." 

1 There is scarcely a more disorderly period in Scottish history 
than that which succeeded the battle of Flodden, and occupied the 
minority of James V. Feuds of ancient standing broke out like old 
wounds, and every quarrel among the independent nobility, which 
occurred daily, and almost hourly, gave rise to fresh bloodshed. 
"There arose," says Pitscottie, "great trouble and deadly feuds in 
many parts of Scotland, both in the north and west parts. The 
Master of Forbes, in the north, slew the Laird of Meldrum, under 
tryst;" (i. e. at aji agreed and secure 7neetifi^:) "Likewise, the 
Laird of Drummelzier slew the Lord Fleming at the hawking ; and, 
likewise there was slaughter among many other great lords." P. 121. 
Nor was the matter much mended under the government of the Earl 
of Angus: for though he caused the King to ride through all Scot- 
land, "under the pretence and color of justice, to punish thief and 
traitor, none were found greater than were in their own company; 



194 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto 



VII. 

The Gael beheld him grim the while, 
And answered with disdainful smile, — 
" Saxon, from yonder mountain high, 
I mark'd thee send delighted eye, 
Far to the south and east, where lay, 
Extended in succession gay, 
Deep waving fields and pastures green, 
With gentle slopes and groves between : — 
These fertile plains, that soften'd vale, 
Were once the birthright of the Gael ; 
The stranger came with iron hand, 
And from our fathers reft the land. 
Where dwell we now ! See rudely swell 
Crag over crag, and fell o'er fell. 
Ask we this savage hill we tread, 
For fatten'd steer or household bread ; 
Ask we for flocks these shingles dry. 
And well the mountain might reply, — 
*To you, as "to your sires of yore, 
Belong the target and claymore ! 
I give you shelter in my breast. 
Your own good blades must win the rest/ 



and none at that time durst strive with a Douglas, nor jet a Doug^.as's 
man; for if they would, thej got the worst. Therefore, none durst 
plainzie of no extortion, theft, reiff, nor slaughter, done to them by 
the Douglasses, or their men ; in that cause they were not he^i-d so 
long as the Douglas had the court in guiding." — Ibid, p 133. 



Cantc v.] the lady of the LAKE. IQS 

Pent in this fortress of the North, 

Think'st thou we will not sally forth, 

To spoil the spoiler as we may, 

And from the robber rend the prey ? 

Ay, by my soul ! — While on yon plain 

The Saxon rears one shock of grain ; 

While, of ten thousand herds, there strays 

But one along yon river's maze, — 

The Gael, of plain and river heir. 

Shall, with strong hand, redeem his share. 

Where live the mountain Chiefs who hold, 

That plundering Lowland field and fold 

Is aught but retribution true ? 

Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu." — * 

* The ancient Highlanders verified in their practice the lines of 
Gray: — 

"An iron race the mountain cliffs maintain, 
Foes to the gentler genius of the plain ; 
For where unwearied sinews must be found, 
With side-long plough to quell the flinty ground; 
To turn the torrent's swift descending flood; 
To tame the savage rushing from tlie wood ; 
What wonder if, to patient valor train'd, 
They guard with spirit what by strength they gain'd : 
And while their rocky ramparts round they see 
The rough abode of want and liberty, 
(As lawless force from confidence will grow). 
Insult the plenty of the vales below ? " 

Fragment on the Alliance of Educatio'i 
and Government. 

So far, indeed, was a Creagh^ or foray, from being held disgrace 
fui, that a young chief was always expected to show his talents for 
command sc soon as he assumed it, by leading his clan on a suc- 
cessful enterprise of this nature, either against a neighboring sept, 
for which constant feuds usually furnished an apology, or against 
the Sassenach, Saxons, or Lowlanders, for which no apology was 
necessary. The Gael, great traditional historians, never forgot that 
the Lowlands had, at some remote period, been the property of 



196 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 

VIII. 

Answer'd Fitz-James, — '' And, if I sought, 

Think'st thou no other could be brought ? 

What deem ye of my path waylaid ? 

My life given o'er to ambuscade ? " — 

** As of a meed to rashness due : 

Hadst thou sent warning fair and true, — 

I seek my hound, or falcon stray'd, 

I seek, good faith, a Highland maid, — 

Free hadst thou been to come and go, 

But secret path marks secret foe. 

Nor yet, for this, even as a spy, 

Hadst thou, unheard, been doom'd to die, 

Save to fulfil an augury." — 

" Well, let it pass ; nor will I now 

Fresh cause of enmity avow, 

To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow. 

Enough, I am by promise tied 

To match me with this man of pride : 

Twice have I sought Clan-Alpine's glen 

In peace ; but when I come agen, 

their Celtic forefathers, which furnished an ample vindication of all 
the ravages that they could make on the unfortunate districts which 
lay within their reach. Sir James Grant of Grant is in possession of 
a letter of apology from Cameron of Lochiel, whose men had com- 
mitted some depredation upon a farm called Moines, occupied by 
one of the Grants. Lochiel assures Grant, that, however the mis- 
take had happened, his instructions were precise, that the party 
should foray the province of Moray (a Lowland district), where, as 
he coolly observes, " all men take their piey." 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 197 

I come with banner, brand, and bow, 

As leader seeks his mortal foe. 

For love-lorn swain, in lady's bower. 

Ne'er panted for the appointed hour, 

As I, until before me stand 

This rebel Chieftain and his band ! " ' 

IX. 

** Have, then, thy wish ! " — he whistled shriil, 

And he was answer'd from the hill ; 

Wild as the scream of the curlew. 

From crag to crag the signal flew.^" 

Instant, through copse and heath, arose 

Bonnets and spears and bended bows : 

On right, on left, above, below. 

Sprung up at once the lurking foe ; 

From shingles gray their lances start, 

The bracken brush sends forth the Qart,^ 

The rushes and the willow-wand 

Are bristling into axe and brand, 

And every tuft of broom gives life ^ 

To plaided warrior arm'd for strife. 

1 MS. : " This dark Sir Roderick ) ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ,. 
This savage Chieftain ) 

* MS. : " From copse to copse the signal flew. 

Instant, through copse and crags arose/' 
' MS. : "The bracken bush sJwots forth the dart." 

* MS. : " And each lone tuft of broom gives life 

To plaided warrior arm'd for strife. 
That whistle ma)ined the lonely glen 
With full five hundred armed mefi." 



?93 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 

That whistle garrison'd the glen 

At once with full five hundred men, 

As if the yawning hill to heaven 

A subterranean host had given. ^ 

Watching their leader's beck and will,^ 

As silent there they stood, and still. 

Like the loose crags whose threatening mass 

Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass. 

As if an infant's touch could urge 

Their headlong passage down the verge. 

With step and weapon forward flung. 

Upon the mountain-side they hung. 

The Mountaineer cast glance of pride 

Along Benledi's living side. 



* The Monthly Review sajs — "We now come to the eJief- 
d^oeuv7'e of Walter Scott, — a scene of more vigour, nature, and 
animation, than any other in all his poetry." Another anony- 
mous critic of the poem is not afraid to quote, with reference to 
the effect of this passage, the sublime language of the Prophet 
Ezekiel : — ''Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, 
prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord 
God ; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon 
these slain, that they maj* live. So I prophesied as he com- 
m\nded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and 
stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." — Chap, 
xxxvii, V. 9, 10. 

2 MS. : "All silent, too, they stood, and still, 

Watching their leader's beck and will. 
While forward step and weapon show 
They long to rush upon the foe. 
Like the loose crag, whose tottering mass 
Hung threatening o'er the hollow pass." 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. I99 

Then fix'd his eye and sable brow 
Full on Fitz-James— ^'How say'st thou now? 
These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true ; 
And, Saxon, — I am Roderick Dhu ! " 



X. 

Fitz- James was brave : — Though to his heart 
The life-blood thrill'd with sudden start, 
He mann'd himself with dauntless air, 
Return'd the Chief his haughty stare, 
His back against a rock he bore, 
And firmly placed his foot before : — 
" Come one, come all ! this rock shall fly 
From its firm base as soon as I." 
Sir Roderick mark'd — and ixi his eyes 
Respect was mingled with surprise. 
And the stern joy which warriors feel 
In foemen worthy of their steel. 
Short space he stood — then waved his hand ; 
Down sunk the disappearing band ; 
Each warrior vanish'd where he stood, 
In broom or bracken, heath or wood ; 
Sunk brand and spear and bended bow, 
In osiers pale and copses low 
It seem'd as if their mother Earth 
Had swallow'd up her warlike birth. 
The wind's last breath had toss'd in air, 
Pennon, and plaid, and plumage. fair, — 



200 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [C^nto V 

The next but swept a lone hill-side, 

Where heath and fern were waving wide ; 

The sun's last glance was glinted back, 

From spear and glaive, from targe and jack, — 

The next, all unreflected, shone 

On bracken green, and cold gray stone. 



XL 

Fitz- James look'd round — yet scarce believed 

The witness that his sight received ; 

Such apparition well might seem 

Delusion of a dreadful dream. 

Sir Roderick in suspense he eyed. 

And to his look the Chief replied. 

" Fear nought — nay, that I need not say — 

But — doubt not aught from mine array. 

Thou art my guest ; — I pledged my word 

As far as Coilantogle ford : 

Nor would I call a clansman's brand 

For aid against one valiant hand,' 

Though on our strife lay every vale 

Rent by the Saxon from the Gael.^ 

' MS. : " For aid against one brave man^s hand." 
2 " This scene is excellently described. The frankness and high- 
Souled courage of the two warriors, — the reliance which the Low- 
lander places on the word of the Highlander to guide him safely on his 
way the next morning, although he has spoken threatening and 
violent words against Roderick, whose kinsman the mountaineer 
professes himself to be, — these circumstances are all admirably 
imagined and related." — Alonthly Review- 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 201 

So move we on ; — I only meant 
To show the reed on which you leant, 
Deeming this path you might pursue 
Without a pass from Roderick Dhu " ' 

* This incident, like some other passages in the poem, iilustra 
tive of the character of the ancient Gael, is not imaginary, but 
borrowed from fact. The Highlanders, with the inconsistency of 
most nations in the same state, were alternately capable of great 
exertions of generosity, and of cruel revenge and perfidy. The 
following story I can only quote from tradition, but with sucii 
an assurance from those by whom it was communicated, as per- 
mits me little doubt of its authenticity. Early in the last cen- 
tury, John Gunn, a noted Cateran, or Highland robber, infested 
Inverness-shire, and levied black-mail up to the walls of the pro- 
vincial capital. A garrison was then maintained in the castle 
of that town, and their pay (country banks being unknown) was 
usually transmitted in specie, under the guard of a small escort. Ii 
chanced that the officer who commanded this little party was 
unexpectedly obliged to halt, about thirty miles from Inverness, 
at a miserable inn. About nightfall, a stranger, in the Highland 
dress, and of very prepossessing appearance, entered the same 
house. Separate accommodation being impossible, the English- 
man offered the newly-arrived guest a part of his supper, which was 
accepted with reluctance. By the convei-sation he found his new 
acquaintance knew well all the passes of the country, which induced 
him eagerly to request his company on the ensuing morning. He 
neither disguised his business and charge, nor his apprehensions of 
that celebrated freebooter John Gunn. — The Highlander hesitated 
a moment, and then frankly consented to be his guide. Forth they 
set in the morning; and, in travelling through a solitary and dreary 
glen, the discourse again turned on John Gunn. " Would you like 
to see him.!*" said the guide; and, without waiting an answer to this 
alarming question, he w4iistled. and the English officer, with his 
small party, were surrounded by a body of Highlanders, whose 
numbers put reitistance out of question, and who were all well 
armed. " Stranger," resumed the guide, " I am that very Johi. 
Gunn by whom you feared to be intercepted, and not without cause : 
for I came to the inn last night with the express purpose of learning 
your route, that I and my followers might ease you of your charge 



202 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 



They moved : — Isaid Fitz-James was brave. 
As ever knight that belted glaive ; 
Yet dare not say, that now his blood 
Kept on its wont and temper'd flood, 
As, following Roderick's stride, he drew 
That seeming lonesome pathway through, 
Which yet, by fearful proof, was rife 
With lances, that, to take his life, 
Waited but signal from a guide, 
So late dishonor'd and defied. 
Ever, by stealth, his eye sought round 
The vanish'd guardians of the ground. 
And still, from copse and heather deep, 
Fancy saw spear and broadsword peep ' 
And in the plover's shrilly strain, " 
The sign?d whistle heard again, 
Nor breathed he free till far behind 
The pass was left ; for then they wind 
Along a wide and level green. 
Where neither tree nor turf was seen, 
Nor rush nor bush of broom was near, 
To hide a bonnet, or a spear. 



by the road. But I am incapable of betraying the trust vou reposed 
in me, and having convinced you that you were in my power. I can 
only dismiss you unplundered and uninjured." He then gave the 
officer directions for his journej', and disappeared with his party as 
suddenly as they had presented themselves. 

' MS. : " And still from copse and heather bush, 
Fancy saw spear and broadsword rush." 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE 203 

XII. 

The Chief in silence strode before, 

And reach'd that torrent's sounding shore, 

Which, daughter of three mighty lakes. 

From Vennachar in silver breaks, 

Sweeps through the plain, and ceaseless mines 

On Bochastle the mouldering lines,' 

Where Rome, the Empress of the world, 

Of yore her eagle wings unfurl'd.'' 

And here his course the Chieftain staid. 

Threw down his target and his plaid, 

And to the Lowland warrior said: — 

" Bold Saxon ! to his promise just, 

Vich-Alpine has discharged his trust. 

1 MS. : " On Bochastle the martial lines." 

2 The torrent which discharges itself from Loch Vennachar, the 
lowest and eastmost of the three lakes which form the scenery 
adjoining to the Trosachs, sweeps through a flat and extensive moor, 
called Bochastle. Upon a small eminence, called the Dun of 
Bochastle, and indeed on the plain itself, are some intrenchments, 
which have been thought Roman. There is, adjacent to Callender, 
a sweet villa, the residence of Captain Fairfoul, entitled the Roman 
Camp. 

'•One of the most entire and beautiful remains of a Roman 
encampment now to be found in Scotland, is to be seen at Ardoch, 
near Greenloaning, about six miles to the eastward of Dunblane. 
This encampment is supposed, on good grounds, to have been con- 
structed during the fourth campaign of Agricola in Britain ; it is 
1060 feet in length, and 900 in breadth ; it could contain 26,000 men, 
according to the ordinary distribution of the Roman soldiers in their 
encampments. There appears to have been three or four ditches, 
strongly fortified, surrounding the camp. The four entries crossing 
the lines are still to be seen distinctly. T\\q generaVs quayfey rises 
above the level of the camp, but is not exactly in the centre. It is a 



204 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V- 

This murderous Chief, this ruthless man, 

This head of a rebellious clan. 

Hath led thee safe, through watch and ward, 

Far past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard. 

Now, man to man, and steel to steel, 

A Chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel. 

See here, all vantageless I stand, 

Arm'd like thyself, with single brand : ' 

For this is Coilantogle ford, 

And thou must keep thee with thy sword." — 

XIII. 

The Saxon paused : •' I ne'er delay'd. 

When foeman bade me draw my blade ; 

Nay, more, brave Chief, I vowed thy death : 

Yet sure thy fair and generous faith, 

And my deep debt for life preserved, 

A better meed have well deserved ; 

Can nought but blood our feud atone ? 

A.re there no means?" — *' No, Stranger, none! 

And here, — to fire thy flagging zeal, ■ — 

The Saxon cause rests on thy steel ; 

regular square of twenty yards, enclosed with a stone wall, and con 
taining the foundations of a house, thirty feet by twenty. There is 
a subterraneous communication with a smaller encampment at a 
little distance, in which several Roman helmets, spears, etc., have 
been found. From this camp at Ardoch, the great Roman highway 
runs east to Bertha, about fourteen miles distant, where the Roman 
army is believed to have passed over the Tay into Strathmore." — 
Graham. 

1 See Appendix, N*ite N. 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAkE. 205 

For thus spoke Fate, by prophet bred 
Between the living and the dead ; 
' Who spills the foremost foeman's life, 
His party conquers in the strife.' " — 
''' Then, by my word," the Saxon said, 
^'* The riddle is already read. 
vSeek yonder brake beneath the cliff, — 
There lies Red Murdoch, stark and stiff. 
Thus Fate has solved her prophecy, 
Then yield to Fate, and not to me. 
To James, at Stirling, let us go, 
When, if thou wilt be still his foe, 
Or if the King shall not agree 
To grant thee grace and favor free, 
I plight mine honor, oath, and word. 
That to thy native strengths restored. 
With each advantage shalt thou stand. 
That aids thee now to guard thy land. 



XIV. 

Dark lightning flashed from Roderick's eye 
" Soars thy presumption, then, so high. 
Because a wretched kern ye slew, 
Homage to name of Roderick Dhu? 
He yields not, he, to man nor Fate ! ^ 
Thou add'st but fuel to my hate : — 



' MS. : "In lightning flash'd the Chief's dark ej-e " 
2 MS. : " He stoops not, he, to James nor Fate." 



206 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V 



My clansman's blood demands revenge. 

Not yet prepared ? — By heaven, I change 

My thought, and hold thy valor light 

As that of some vain carpet knight, 

Who ill deserved my courteous care, 

And whose best boast is but to wear 

A braid of his fair lady's hair." — 

— "I thank thee, Roderick, for the word ! 

It nerves my heart, it steels my sword ; 

For I have sworn this braid to stain 

In the best blood that warms thy vein. 

Now, truce, farewell ! and, ruth, begone ! — 

Yet think not that by thee alone. 

Proud Chief ! can courtesy be shown ; 

Though not from copse, or heath, or cairn, 

Start at my whistle clansmen stern. 

Of this small horn one feeble blast 

Would fearful odds against thee cast. 

But fear not — doubt not — w^hich thou wilt-= 

We try this quarrel hilt to hilt." 

Then each at once his falchion drew. 

Each on the ground his scabbard threw. 

Each look'd to sun, and stream, and plain, 

As what they ne'er might see again ; 

Then foot, and point, and eye opposed, 

In dubious strife they darkly closed.' 

' "The two principal figures are contrasted with uncommor 
felicity. Fitz-James, who more nearly resembles the French Henr) 
the Fourth than the Scottish James V., is gay, amorous, fickle 
intrepid, impetuous, affectionate, courteous, graceful, and dignified 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 20/ 

XV. 

Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhii, 
That on the field his targe he threw/ 
Whose brazen studs and tough bull-hide 
Had death so often dash'd aside ; 
For, train'd abroad his arms to wield, 
Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield.^ 

Roderick is gloomy, vindictive, arrogant, undaunted, but constant 
in his affections, and true to his engagements ; and the whole pas- 
sage in which these personages are placed in opposition, from their 
first meeting to their final conflict, is conceived and written with a 
sublimity which has been rarely equalled." — Quarterly Review^ 
1810. 

1 A round target of light wood, covered with strong leather and 
studded with brass or iron, was a necessary part of a Highlander's 
equipment. In charging regular troops, they received the thrust of 
the bayonet in this buckler, twisted it aside, and used the broadsword 
against the encumbered soldier. In the civil war of 1745, most of 
the front rank of the clans were thus armed : and Captain Grose 
informs us, that in 1747, the privates of the 42d regiment, then in 
Flanders, were for the most part permitted to carry targets. — Mili- 
tary Ajitiquities, vol. i. p. 164. A person thus armed had a con- 
siderable advantage in private fray. Among verses between Swift 
and Sheridan, lately published by Dr. Barret, there is an account of 
such an encounter, in which the circumstances, and consequently the 
relative superiority of the combatants, are precisely the reverse of 
those in the text : — 

" A Highlander once foug-ht a Frenchman at Margate. 
The weapons, a rapier, a backsword, and target; 
Brisk Monsieur advanced as fast as he could, 
But all his fine pushes were caught in the ^vood, 
And Sawney, with backsword, did slash him and nick him, 
W hile t'other, enraged that he could not once prick him. 
Cried, ' Sirrah, you rascal, you son of a whore, 
Me will fight you, be gar! if you'll come from your door.' " 

2 The use of defensive armor, and particularly of the buckler, or 
target, was general in Qiieen Elizabeth's time, although that of the 



208 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V 

He practised every pass and ward. 
To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard ; 
While less expert, though stronger fan 
The Gael maintain'd unequal war.' 

single rapier seems to have been occasionally practised mucti earlier.* 
Rowland Yorke, however, who betrajed the fort of Zutphen to the 
Spaniards, for which good service he was afterwards poisoned by 
them, is said to have been the first who brought the rapier-fight into 
general use. Fuller, speaking of the swash bucklers, or bullies of 
Queen Elizabeth's time, says — "West Smithfield was formerly 
called Ruffian's Hall, where such men usually met, casually or 
otherwise, to try masteries with sword and buckler. More were 
frightened than hurt, more hurt than killed therewith, it being 
accounted unmanly to strike beneath the knee. But since that 
desperate traitor Rowland Yorke first introduced thrusting with 
rapiers, sword and buckler are disused." In "The Two Angry 
Women of Abingdon." a comedy, printed in 1599, we have a pathetic 
complaint : — " Sword and buckler fight begins to grow out of use. 
I am sorry for it : I shall never see good manhood again. If it be 
once gone, this poking fight of rapier and dagger will come up ; then 
a tall man, and a good sword-and-buckler man, will be spitted like a 
cat or rabbit." But the rapier had upon the continent long super- 
seded, in private duel, the use of sword and shield. The masters of 
the noble science of defence were chiefly Italians. They made great 
mystery of their art and mode of instruction, never suffered any 
person to be present but the scholar who was to be taught, and even 
examined closets, beds, and other places of possible concealment. 
Their lessons often gave the most treacherous advantages; for the 
challenger, having a right to choose his weapons, frequently selected 
some strange, unusual, and inconvenient kind of arms, the use of 
which he practised under these instructors, and thus killed at his 
ease his antagonist, to whom it was presented for the first time on 
the field of battle. See Brantome's Discourse on Duels, and the 
work on the same subject, '■'■ si gentement ecrit,"" by the venerable 
Dr. Paris de Puteo. The Highlanders continued to use broad- 
sword and target until disarmed after the affair of 1745-6. 
1 MS. : " Not Roderick thus, though stronger far 
More tall and more inured to war." 

* See Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 61. 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 209 

Three times in closing strife they stood, 
And thrice the Saxon blade drank blood ; 
No stinted draught, no scanty tide, 
The gushing flood the tartans dyed. 
Fierce Roderick felt the fatal drain, 
And shower'd his blows like wintry rain ; 
And, as firm rock, or castle-roof, 
Against the winter shower is proof, 
The foe, invulnerable still, 
Foil'd his wild rage by steady skill ; 
Till, at advantage ta'en, his brand 
Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand, 
And backward borne upon the lea. 
Brought the proud Chieftain to his knee.' 



XVI. 

"Now, yield thee, or by Him who made 
The world, thy heart's blood dyes my blade ! 
*' Thy threats, thy mercy, I defy ! 
Let recreant yield, who fears to die."^ 

1 This couplet is not in the MS. 

2 I have not ventured to render this duel so savagely desperate as 
that of the celebrated Sir Ewan of Lochiel, chief of the clan Cameron, 
called from his sable complexion, Ewan Dhu. He w^as the last man 
in Scotland who maintained the rojal cause during the great Civil 
War, and his constant incursions rendered him a verj unpleasant 
neighbor to the republican garrison at Inverlochy, now Fort-Wil- 
liam. The governor of the fort detached a party of three hundred 
men to lay waste Lochiel's possessions, and cut down his trees; but, 
in a sudden and desperate attack made upon them by the chieftain 
with very inferior numbers, they were almost all cut to pieces. The 



2IO THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canio V. 

— Like adder darting from his coil, 
Like wolf that dashes through the toil, 
Like mountain-cat who guards her young, 
Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung; ' 
Received, but reck d not of a wound, 
And lock'd his arms his foeman round. — 
Now, gallant Saxon, hold thine own ! 
No maiden's hand is round thee thrown ! 
That desperate grasp thy frame might feel. 
Through bars of brass and triple steel ! — 
They tug, they strain ! down, down they go. 
The Gael above, Fitz-James below. 



■skirmish is detailed in a curious memoir of Sir Ewan's life, printed 
in the Appendix of Pennant's Scottish Tour. 

" In this engagement, Lochiel himself had several wonderful 
escapes. In the retreat of the English, one of the strongest and 
bravest of the officers retired behind a bush, when he observed 
Lochiel pursuing, and seeing him unaccompanied with any, he leapt 
out, and thought him his prey. They met one another with equal 
fury. The combat was long and doubtful : the English gentleman 
had by far the advantage in strength and size; but Lochiel, exceed- 
ing him in nimbleness and agility, in the end tript the sword out of 
his hand : they closed and wrestled, till both fell to the ground in 
each other's arms. The English officer got above Lochiel, and 
pressed him hard, but stretching forth his neck by attempting to 
disengage himself, Lochiel, who by this time had his hands at 
hberty, with his left hand seized him by the collar, and jumping at 
his extended throat, he bit it with his teeth quite through, and kept 
such a hold of his grasp, that he brought away his mouthful : this, 
he said, xvas the sweetest bi/ he ever had in his lifetime.'''' — Vol, i 
P- 375 

' MS ' 'Yield they alone who fear to die.' 

Like mountain-cat who guards her young, 
Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung." 



Canto v.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 211 

The Chieftain's gripe his throat compress'd, 
His knee was planted on his breast ; 
His clotted locks he backward threw 
Across his brow his hand he drew, 
From blood and mist to clear his sight, 
Then gleam'd aloft his dagger bright ! — 
— But hate and fury ill supplied 
The stream of life's exhausted tide, 
And all too late the advantage came, 
To turn the odds of deadly game ; 
For, while the dagger gleam'd on high, 
Reel'd soul and sense, reel'd brain and eye. 
Down came the blow ! but in the heath 
The erring blade found bloodless sheath. 
The struggling foe may now unclasp 
The fainting Chief's relaxing grasp ; 
Unwounded from the dreadful close, 
But breathless all, Fitz-James arose.' 

xvn. 

He falter'd thanks to Heaven for life, 
Redeem'd, unhoped, from desperate strife;* 
Next on his foe his look he cast. 
Whose every gasp appear'd his last ; 

' MS. • ■• Panting and breathless on the sands. 
But all unwounded, now he stands." 
2 MS. : " Redeem'd, unhoped, from deadly strife; 

Next on his foe his look he < , ' ' 
I threw. 

Whose every breath appear'd his last." 



212 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 

In Roderick's gore he dipt the braid — 

'' Poor Blanche ! thy wrongs are dearly paid ° 

Yet with thy foe must die, or live, 

The praise that Faith and Valor give.*' 

With that he blew a bugle-note, 

Undid the collar from his throat, 

Unbonneted, and by the wave 

Sate down his brow and hands to lave. 

Then faint afar are heard the feet ' 

Of rushing steeds in gallop fleet ; 

The sounds increase, and now are seen 

Four mounted squires in Lincoln green ; 

Two who bear lance, and two who lead, 

By loosen'd rein, a saddled steed ; 

Each onward held his headlong course. 

And by Fitz-James rein'd up his horse, 

With wonder view'd the bloody spot — 

r— " Exclaim not, gallants ! question not. — 

7ou, Herbert and Luffness, alight, 

And bind the wounds of yonder knight ; 

Let the gray palfrey bear his weight. 

We destined for a fairer freight, 

And bring him on to Stirling straight ; 

I will before at better speed, 

To seek fresh horse and fitting weed. 

The sun rides high ; — I must be boune. 

To see the archer game at noon ; 

But lightly Bayard clears the lea. — 

De Vaux and Herries, follow me. 

1 MS. : " Faint and afar are heard the feet." 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 213 



XVIIL 

''Stand, Bayard, stand! — the steed obey'd, 
With arching neck and bended head, 
And glancing eye and quivering ear, 
As if he loved his lord to hear. 
No foot Fitz-James in stirrup staid, 
No grasp upon the saddle laid, 
But wreath'd his left hand in the mane, 
And lightly bounded from the plain, 
Turn'd on the horse his armed heel, 
And stirr'd his courage with the steel. 
Bounded the fiery steed in air. 
The rider sate erect and fair. 
Then like a bolt from steel crossbow 
Forth launch'd, along the plain they go. 
They dash'd that rapid current through, 
And up Carhonie's hill they flew ; 
Still at the gallop prick'd the Knight, 
His merry-men follow'd as they might. 
Along thy banks, swift Teith ! they ride. 
And in the race they mock thy tide ; 
Torry and Lendrick now are past. 
And Deanstown lies behind them cast ; 
They rise, the banner'd towers of Doune, ' 
They sink in distant woodland soon ; 

» The ruins of Doune Castle, formerly the residence of the Eails 
of Menteith, now the property of the Earl of Morav, are situated at 
the confluence of the Ardoch and the Teith. 



^14 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 



Blair-Drummond sees the hoofs strike fire,' 
They sweep Hke breeze through Ochtertyre ; 
They mark, just glance and disappear 
The lofty brow of ancient Kier ; 
They bathe their courser's sweltering sides, 
Dark Forth ! amid thy sluggish tides, 
And on the opposing shore take ground. 
With plash, with scramble, and with bound. 
Right-hand they leave thy cliffs, Craig-Forth ! 
And soon the bulwark of the North, 
Gray Stirling, with her towers and town. 
Upon their fleet career look'd down. 

XIX. 

As up the flinty path they strain'd, ^ 
Sudden his steed the leader rein'd ; 
A signal to his squire he flung, 
Who instant to his stirrup sprung : — 
Seest thou, De Vaux, yon woodsman gray, 
Who town-ward holds the rocky way, 



* MS. : "Blair-Drummond sarv their Jioofs of fire. ^^ 
2 It may be worth noting that the poet marks the progress of the 
King by naming in succession places familiar and dear to his own 
early recollections — Blair-Drummond, the seat of the Homes of 
Kaimes; Kier, that of the principal family of the name of Stirhng; 
Ochtertyre, that of John Ramsay, the well-known antiquary, and 
correspondent of Burns; and Craigforth, that of the Callenders of 
Craigforth, almost under the walls of Stirling Castle ; — all hospitable 
roofs, under which he had spent many of his younger days. — Ed. 
•^ MS. : " As up the steepy path they strain'd." 



Canto V.] • THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 21 5 

Of stature tall and poor array ? 

Mark'st thou the firm, yet active stride, 

With which he scales the mountain-side ? ' 

Know'st thou from whence he comes, or whom?" 

" No, by my word ; — a burly groom 

He seems, who in the field or chase 

A baron's tram would nobly grace." — 

** Out, out, De Vaux ! can fear supply, 

And jealousy, no sharper eye? 

Afar, ere to the hill he drew. 

That stately form and step I knew ; 

Like form in Scotland is not seen. 

Treads not such step on Scottish green. 

'Tis Jarhes of Douglas, by Saint Serle ! ^ 

The uncle of the banished Earl. 

Away, away, to court, to show 

The near approach of dreaded foe : 

The King must stand upon his guard ; 

Douglas and he must meet prepared." 

Then right-hand wheel'd their steeds, and straight . 

They won the castle's postern gate. 

XX. 

The Douglas, who had bent his way 
From Cambus-Kenneth's abbey gray 
Now, as he climb'd the rocky shelf. 
Held sad communion w^ith himself : 

1 MS.: "With which he gains the mountain-side." 
" The Edinburgh Reviewer remarks on " that unhappy couplet, 
where the King himself is in such distress for a rhjme as to be 



2l6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. ' [Canto V 

*' Yes ! all is true my fears could frame ; 

A prisoner lies the noble Graeme; 

And fiery Roderick soon will feel 

The vengeance of the royal steel. 

I, only I, can ward their fate, — 

God grant the ransom come not late ! 

The Abbess hath her promise given, 

My child shall be the bride of Heaven ; — 

— Be pardon'd one repining tear ? 

For He, who gave her, knows how dear, 

How excellent ! but that is by. 

And now my business is — to die. 

■ — Ye towers ! within whose circuit dread 

A Douglas by his sovereign bled ; 

And thou, O sad and fatal mound ! ' 

That oft has heard the death-axe sound. 

As on the noblest of the land 

Fell the stern headsman's bloody hand, — 

obliged to apply to one of the obscurest saints in the calendar." The 
reading of the MS. is — 

" 'Tis James of Douglas, by my word, 
The uncle of the banish'd Lord." 

' An eminence on the north-east of the Castle, where state 
criminals were executed. Stirling was often polluted with noble 
blood. It is thus apostrophized by J. Johnston : 

" Discordia tristis 

Heu quoties procerum sanguine tinxit humum 
Hoc uno infelix, et felix ce era; nusquam 
Laetior aut coeli frons geniusve soli." 

The fate of William, eighth Earl of Douglas, whom James IT. 
stabbed in Stirling Castle with his own hand, and while under his 
roj'al safe-conduct, is familiar to all who read Scottish history. 
Murdack, Duke of Albany, Duncan, Earl of Lennox, his father-in- 



^JANToV.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 217 

The dungeon, block, and nameless tomb 

Prepare — for Douglas seeks his doom! 

— But hark ! what blithe and jolly peal 

Makes the Franciscan steeple reel ? 

And see ! upon the crowded street, 

In motley groups what masquers meet ! 

Banner and pageant, pipe and drum, 

And merry morrice-dancers come. 

I guess, by all this quaint array. 

The burghers hold their sports to-day, ' 

James will be there ; he loves such show. 

Where the good yeoman bends his bow. 

And the tough wrestler foils his foe, 

As well as where, in proud career. 

The high-born tilter shivers spear. 

I'll follow to the Castle-park, 

And play my prize ; — King James shall mark^ 

If age has tamed these sinews stark, 

law, and his two sons, Walter and Alexander Stuart, were execute'^ 
at Stirling, in 1425. They were beheaded upon an eminence withoui 
the castle walls, but making part of the same hill, from whence they 
could behold their strong castle of Doune, and their extensive pos- 
sessions. This "heading hill," as it was sometimes termed, bears 
commonly the less terrible name of Hurly-hacket, from its having 
been the scene of a courtly amusement alluded to by Sir David 
Lindsay, who says of the pastimes in which the young knig was 
engaged, 

" Some harled him to the Hurly-hacket; " 

which consisted ir sliding, in some sort of chair, it maybe sup;>osed, 
rrom top to bottom of a smooth bank. The boys of Edinbuigh, 
about twenty years ago, used to play at hurly-hacket, on the Cai^OD 
hill, using for their seat a horse's skull. 
^ See Appendix, Note O. 



21 8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 

Whose force so oft, in happier clays, 
* His boyish wonder loved to praise." 



XXI. 

The Castle gates were open flung, 

The quivering drawbridge rock'd and rung, 

And echo'd loud the flinty street 

Beneath the coursers' clattering feet, 

As slowly down the steep descent 

Fair Scotland's King and nobles went,* 

While all along the crowded way 

Was jubilee and loud huzza. 

And ever James was bending low, 

To his white jennet's saddle-bow, 

Doffing his cap to city dame, 

Who smiled and blush'd for pride and shame, 

And well the simperer might be vain, — 

He chose the fairest of the train, 

Gravely he greets each city sire, 

Commends each pageant's quaint attire, 

Gives to the dancers thanks aloud. 

And smiles and nods upon the crowd. 

Who rend the heavens with their acclaims, 

" Long live the Commons' King, King James ! " 

1 MS. : " King James and all his nobles went 
Ever the Ki)ig\\2i^ bending low 
To his white jennet's saddle-bow, 
Doffing his cap to burgher dame. 
Who smiling blush'd for pride and shame." 



Canto V.^ THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 2ig 



Behind the King throng'd peer and knight, 
And noble dame and damsel bright, 
Whose fiery steeds ill brook'd the stay 
Of the steep street and crowded way. 
— But in the train you might discern 
Dark lowering brow and visage stern ; 
There nobles mourn'd their pride restrain'd, 
And the mean burgher's joys disdain'd ; 
And chiefs, who, hostage for their clan. 
Were each from home a banish'd man, 
There thought upon their own gray tower. 
Their waving woods, their feudal power. 
And deem'd themselves a shameful part 
Of pageant which they cursed in heart. 

XXII. 

Now, in the Castle-park drew out 
Their checker'd bands the joyous rout. 
There morricers, with bell at heel. 
And blade in hand, their mazes wheel ; ^ 

MS. : "Nobles tv/io mourn'd their pozver restrain'd, 
And the poor burgher's jovs disdain'd ; 
Dark chief, -who, hostage for his clan, 
V^^'s, from his home a banish'd man, 
Who thought upon his own gray tower, 
The waving woods, his feudal bower,. 
And deem'd himself a shameful part 
Of pageant that he cursed in heart." 
MS. adds : 

" With awkward stride there city groom 
Would part of fabled knight assume." 



220 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 

But chief, beside the butts, there stand 
Bold Robin Hood ' and all his band, — 
Friar Tuck with quarterstaff and cowl, 
Old Scathelocke with his surly scowl, 
Maid Marion, fair as ivory bone, 
Scarlet, and Mutch, and Little John ; 

♦ The exhibition of this renowned outlaw and his band was a 
i<ivorite frolic at such festivals as we are describing- This sporting, 
in which kings did not disdain to be actors, was prohibited in Scot- 
land upon the Reformation, bj a statute of the sixth Parliament of 
Queen Mary, c. 6i, A.D. 1555, which ordered, under heavy penal- 
ties, that " na manner of person be chosen Robert Hude, nor Little 
John, Abbot of Unreason, Qiieen of May, nor otherwise." But in 
1561, the " rascal multitude," says John Knox, " were stirred up to 
make a Robin Hude, whilkenormity was of many years left and damnea 
by statute and act of Parliament; yet would they not be forbidden.'' 
Accordingly they raised a very serious tumult, and at length made 
prisoners the magistrates who endeavored to suppress it, and would 
not release them till they extorted a formal promise that no one 
should be punished for his share of the disturbance. It would seem, 
from the complaints of the General Assembly of the Kirk, that these 
profane festivities were continued down to 1592.* Bold Robin was, 
to say the least, equally successful in maintaining his ground against 
the reformed clergy of England; for the simple and evangelical 
Latimer complains of coming to a country church, where the people 
refused to hear him, because it was Robin Hood's dav; and his 
mitre and rochet were fain to give way to the village pastime. Much 
curious information on this subject may be found in the Preliminary 
Dissertation to the late Mr. Ritson's edition of the songs respecting 
this memorable outlaw. The game of Robin Hood was usually 
acted in May ; and he was associated with the morrice-dancers, on 
whom so much illustration has been bestowed by the commentators 
on Shakspeare. A very lively picture of these festivities, contaming 
a great deal of curious information on the subject of the private life 
and amusements of our ancestors, was thrown by the late ingenious 
Mr. Strutt, into his romance entitled Qiieen-hoo Hall, published 
after bis death, in iSoS. 

* Book of the Universal Kirk, p. 414. 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 221 

Their bugles challenge all that will, 

In archery to prove their skill. 

The Douglas bent a bow of might, — 

His first shaft centered in the white, 

And when in turn he shot again, 

His second split the first in twain. 

From the King's hand must Douglas take 

A silver dart, the archer's stake ; 

Fondly he watch'd with watery eye, ^ 
Some answering glance of sympathy, — 
No kind emotion made reply ! 
Indifferent as to archer wight. 
The monarch gave the arrow bright. ^ 

1 MS. : " Fondly he Avatch'd with watery eye, 

For answering glance of sympathy, — 
But no emotion made reply ! 
Indifferent as to u}ik?iozv?i 



. wiirht. 
Cold a.s to tcnk?io-vn yeoman 

The Ling gave forth the arrow bright." 

^ The Douglas of the poem is an imaginary person, a supposed 
uncle of the Earl of Angus. But the king's behavior during an 
unexpected interview with the Laird of Kilspindie, one of the 
banished Douglasses, under circumstances similar to those in the 
text, is imitated from a real story told by Home of Godscroft. I 
would have availed myself more fully of the simple and affecting 
circumstances of the old history, had they not been already woven 
into a pathetic ballad by my friend Mr. Finlay.* 

" His (the king's) implacability (towards the family of Douglas) 
did also appear in his carriage towards Archibald of Kilspindie, 
whom he, when he was a child, loved singularly well for his ability 
of body, and was wont to call him his Grey-Steill.f Archibald, 

* See Scottish Historical and Romantic Ballads. Glasgow, iScS, vol. ii. p. 117. 
t A champion of popular romance. See ElJis''s Romances, vol. lii. 



222 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto Vo 

XXIII. 

Now, clear the ring ! for, hand to hand, 
The manly wrestlers take their stand. 

be^ng banished into England, could not well comport with the 
humor of that nation, which he thought to be too proud, and that 
they had too high a conceit of themselves, joined with a contempt 
and despising of all others. Wherefore being wearied of that life, 
and remembering the king's favor of old towards him, he determined 
to try the king's mercifulness and clemency. So he comes into 
Scotland, and taking occasion of the king's hunting in the Park of 
Stirling, he casts himself to be in his way, as he was coming home 
to the castle. So soon as the king saw him afar off, ere he came 
near, he guessed it was he, and said to one of his courtiers, Yonder 
is my Grey-Steill, Archibald of Kilspindie, if he be ^live. The 
other answered that it could not be he, and that he durst not come 
into the king's presence. The king approaching, he fell upon his 
knees and craved pardon, and promised from thenceforward to 
abstain from meddling in public affairs, and to lead a quiet and 
private life. The king went by without giving him any answer, and 
trotted a good round pace up the hill. Kilspindie followed, and, 
though he wore on him a secret, or shirt of mail, for his particular 
enemies, was as soon at the castle gate as the king. There he sat 
him down upon a stone without, and entreated some of the king's 
servants for a cup of drink, being weary and thirsty ; but they, fear- 
ing the king's displeasure, durst give him none. When the king 
was set at his dinner, he asked what he had done, what he had 
said, and whither he had gone.-* It was told him that he had desired 
a cup of drink and had gotten none. The king reproved them very 
sharply for their discourtesy, and told them, that if he had not 
taken an oath that no Douglas should ever serve him, he would have 
received him into his service, for he had seen him sometime a man 
of great ability. Then he sent him word to go to Leith, and expect 
his further pleasure. Then some kinsman of David Falconer, the 
cannonier, that was slain at Tantallon, began to quarrel with 
Archibald about the matter, wherewith the king showed himself not 
well pleased when he heard of it. Then he commanded him to go 
tc France for a certain space, till he heard from him. And so he 
did, and died shortly after. This gave occasion to the King ot 



Canto v.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 22}, 

Two o'er the rest superior rose, 
And proud demanded mightier foes, 
Nor call'd in vain ; for Douglas came, 
— For life is Hugh of Larbert lame; 
Scarce better John of Alloa's fare, 
Whom senseless home his comrades bear. 
Prize of the wrestling match, the King 
To Douglas gave a golden ring, ^ 
While coldly glanced his eye of blue, 
As frozen drop of wintry dew. 
Douglas would speak, but in his breast 
His struggling soul his words suppress'd ; 

England (Henrj VIII.) to blame his nephew, alleging the old say- 
ing, That a king's face should give grace. For this Archibald 
(whatsoever were Angus's or Sir George's fault) had not been prin- 
cipal actor of anj'thing, nor no counsellor nor stirrer up, but only a 
follower of his friends, and that noways cruelly disposed." — Hume 
of Godscroft, ii. 107. 

^ The usual prize of a wrestling was a ram and a ring, but the 
animal would have embarrassed my story. Thus, in the Cokes 
Tale of Gamelyn, ascribed to Chaucer: 

" There happed to be there beside 
Tryed a wrestling ; 
And therefore there was y-setten 
A ram and als a ring." 

Again the Litil Geste of Robin Hood : 

•' By a bridge was a wrestling, 

And there taryed was he, 
And there was all the best yemen 

Of all the west countrey. 
A full fayre game there was set up, 

A white bull tip y-pight, 
A great courser with saddle and brydle. 

With gold burnished full bryght; 
A payre of glove", a red golde ringe, 

A pipe of wyne good fay ; 
What man bereth him best, I wis, 

The prize shall bear away." 

Ritson's Robin Hood, vol. i. 



224 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 



Indignant then he turn'd him where 

Their arms the brawny yeomen bare, 

To hurl the massive bar in air. 

When each his utmost strength had shown, 

The Douglas rent an earth-fast stone 

From its deep bed, then heaved it high, 

And sent the fragment through the sky, 

A rood beyond the farthest mark; — 

And still in Stirling's royal park, 

The gray-hair'd sires, who know the past, 

To strangers point the Douglas-cast, 

And moralize on the decay 

Of Scottish strength in modern day. ^ 

XXIV. 

The vale with loud applauses rang, 
The Ladies' Rock sent back the clang. 
The King, with look unmov'd, bestow'd 
A purse well fill'd with pieces broad. ^ 
Indignant smiled the Douglas proud. 
And threw the gold among the crowd, ^ 
Who now, with anxious wonder scan, 
And sharper glance the dark gray man; 
Till whispers rose among the throng, 
That heart so free and hand so strong. 
Must to the Douglas blood belong ; 



1 MS. 

2 MS. 

3 MS. 



Of ;«^;Va/ strength in modern day." 

A purse xveigJi'd doivn with pieces broad. 

Scattered the gold among the crowd." 



.ANTo v.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 225 

The old men mark'd, and shook the head, 

To see his hair with silver spread, 

And wink'd aside, and told each son, 

Of feats upon the English done, 

Ere Douglas of the stalwart hand * 

Was exiled from his native land. 

The women prais'd his stately form. 

Though wreck'd by many a winter's storm ;* 

The youth with awe and wonder saw 

His strength surpassing Nature's law. 

Thus judged, as is their wont, the crowd, 

Till murmur rose to clamors loud. 

But not a glance from that proud ring 

Of peers who circled round the King, 

With Douglas held communion kind, 

Or call'd the banish'd man to mind;^ 

No, not from those who, at the chase, 

Once held his side the honor'd place, 

Begirt his board, and in the field. 

Found safety underneath his shield ; 

For he, whom royal eyes disown. 

When was his form to courtiers known ! 

XXV. 

The monarch saw the gambols flag, 
And bade let loose a gallant stag. 



MS. 
MS. 
MS. 



"Ere James of Douglas^ stalwart hand." 
"Though -ivoyfi by many a winter storm.' 
" Or called his stately form to mind." 



226 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 

Whose pride the holiday to crown, 

Two favorite greyhounds should pull down, 

That vension free, and Bourdeaux wine. 

Might serve the archery to dine. 

But Lufra, — whom from Douglas' side 

Nor bribe nor threat, could ere divide 

The fleetest hound in all the North, — 

Brave Lufra saw, and darted forth. 

She left the royal hounds mid-way, 

And dashing on the antler'd prey. 

Sunk her sharp muzzle in his flank. 

And deep the flowing life-blood drank. 

The King's stout huntsman saw the sport, 

By strange intruder broken short. 

Came up, and, with his leash unbound. 

In anger struck the noble hound. 

— The Douglas had endured, that morn, 

The King's cold look, the nobles' scorn, 

And last and worst to spirit proud, 

Had borne the pity of the crowd ; 

But Lufra had been fondly bred, 

To share his board, to watch his bed, 

And oft would Ellen, Lufra's neck 

In maiden glee with garlands deck ; 

They w^re such playmates, that with name 

Of Lufra, Ellen's image came. 

His stifled wrath is brimming high. 

In darken'd brow and flashing eye ; 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 22/ 

As waves before the bark divide, 
The crowd gave way before his stride ; 
Needs but a buffet and no more, 
The groom Hes senseless in his gore. 
Such blow no other hand could deal, 
Though gauntleted in glove of steel. 

XXVI. 

Then clamor'd loud the royal train, ' 
And brandish'd swords and staves amain. 
But stern the Baron's warning — ''Back!" ^ 
Back, on your lives, ye menial pack ! 
Beware the Douglas. — Yes ! behold, 
King James ! The Douglas, doom'd of old, 
And vainly sought for near and far, 
A victim to atone the war, 
A willing victim, now attends. 
Nor craves thy grace but for his friends." — 
" Thus in my clemency repaid } 
Presumptuous Lord ! " the Monarch said ; 
" Of thy mis-proud ambitious clan, 
Thou, James of Bothwell, wert the man, 
The only man, in whom a foe 
My woman-mercy would not know : 

1 MS. : " Clamor'd his comrades of the train." 

2 MS. : " But stern the warrior's warning — ' Back ! ' " 



22t^ THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 

But shall a Monarch's presence brook ' 
Injurious blow, and haughty look? — 
What ho ! The Captain of our Guard ! 
Give the offender fitting ward. •— 
Break off the sports ! " — for tumult rose, 
And yeomen 'gan to bend their bows, — 
" Break o£f the sports ! " he said, and frown'd. 
" And bid our horsemen clear the e:round." 



t)' 



XXVII. 

Then uproar wild and misarray 

Marr'd the fair form of festal day. 

The horsemen prick'd among the crowd, 

Repell'd by threats and insult loud ; ^ 

To earth are borne the old and weak, 

The timorous fly, the women shriek ; 

With flint, with shaft, with staff, with bar, 

The hardier urge tumultuous war. 

At once round Douglas darkly sweep 

The royal spears in circle deep, 

And slowly scale the pathway steep : 

While on the rear in thunder pour 

The rabble with disordered roar. 

With grief the noble Douglas saw 

The Commons rise against the law, 

* MS. : " But in my court, injurious blow, 

And bearded thus, and thus out-dared.? 
What ho ! the Captain of our Guard ! " 

^ MS.: "Their threats repell'd hy insult loud." 



Canto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 22q 

And to the leading soldier said, — 
" Sir John of Hyndford ! 'twas my blade 
That knighthood on thy shoulder laid ; 
For that good deed, permit me then 
A word with these misguided men. 

XXVIII. 

" Hear, gentle friends ! ere yet for me, 

Ye break the bands of fealty. 

My life, my honor, and my cause, 

I tender free to Scotland's laws. 

Are these so weak as must require 

The aid of your misguided ire ? 

Or, if I suffer causeless wrons:. 

Is then my selfish rage so strong. 

My sense of public weal so low, 

That, for mean vengeance on a foe, 

Those cords of love I should unbind. 

Which knit my country and my kind 

Oh no ! Believe in yonder tower 

It will not soothe my captive hour. 

To know those spears our foes should dread. 

For me in kindred gore are red ; 

To know, in fruitless brawl begun. 

For me, that mother wails her son ; 

For me, that widow's mate expires ; 

For me, that orphans weep their sires ; 

That patriots mourn insulted laws, 

And curse the Douglas for the cause. 



230 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V, 

O let your patience ward such ill, 
And keep your right to love me still ! " 



XXIX. 

The crowd's wild fury sunk again * 
In tears, as tempests melt in rain. 
With lifted hands and eyes, they pray'^ 
For blessings on his generous head. 
Who for his country felt alone. 
And prized her blood beyond his own. 
Old men, upon the verge of life, 
Bless'd him who stayed the civil strife ; 
And mothers held their babes on high, 
The self-devoted Chief to spy. 
Triumphant over wrongs and ire, 
To whom the prattlers owed a sire : 
Even the rough soldier's heart was moA^ed 
As if behind some bier beloved. 
With trailing arms and drooping head, 
The Douglas up the hill he led, 
And at the castle's battled verge. 
With sighs resign'd his honor'd charge. 

XXX. 

The offended Monarch rode apart. 
With bitter thought and swelling heart, 

* MS. : " The crowd's wild fury ebb'd amain 
In tears, as tempests sink in rain." 



CA^ro v.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 23 1 

And would not now vouchsafe again 
Through Stirling streets to lead his train. 
" O Lennox, who would wish to rule 
This changeling crowd, this common fool? 
Hear'st thou," he said, '' the loud acclaim 
With which they shout the Douglas name ? 
With like acclaim, the vulgar throat 
Strain'd for King James their morning note; 
With like acclaim they hail'd the day 
When first I broke the Douglas' sway; 
And like acclaim would Douglas greet, 
If he could hurl me from my seat. 
Who o'er the herd would wish to reign, 
Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain ! 
Vain as the leaf upon the stream, * 
And fickle as a changeful dream ; 
Fantastic as a woman's mood. 
And fierce as Frenzy's fever'd blood 
Thou many-headed monster thing, * 
O who would wish to be thy king! 



^ MS. : *' Vain as the sick man's idle dream." 
2 " Who deserves greatness, 

Deserves your hate ; and your affections are 

A sick man's appetite, w^ho desires most that 

Which would increase his evil. He that depends 

Upon your favors, swims with fins of lead, 

And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye ! Trust ye.^ 

With every minute you do change a mind ; 

And call him noble, that was now your hate, 

Him vile that was your garland." 

Coriolanus, Act I. Scene I. 



232 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V- 

XXXL 

" But soft ! what messenger of speed 

Spurs hitherward his panting steed ? 

I guess his cognizance afar — 

What from our cousin, John of Mar?" 

*' He prays, my Hege, your sports keep bound 

Within the safe and guarded ground : 

For some foul purpose yet unknown, — 

Most sure for evil to the throne, — 

The outlaw'd Chieftain, Roderick Dhu, 

Has summon'd his rebellious crew ; 

'Tis said, in James of Bothwell's aid 

These loose banditti stand array'd. 

The Earl of Mar, this morn, from Doune, 

To break their muster march'd, and soon 

Your grace will hear of battle fought ; 

But earnestly the Earl besought, 

Till for such danger he provide, 

With scanty train you will not ride." ' 

xxxn. 

"Thou warn'st me I have done amiss, — 
I should have earlier looked to this : 
I lost it in this bustling day. 
Retrace with speed thy former way; 
Spare not for spoiling of thy steed, 
The best of mine shall be thy meed. 

1 MS. : " On distant chase you will not ride." 



Ca nto V.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 233 

Say to our faithful Lord of Mar, 
We do forbid the intended war : 
Roderick, this morn, in single fight. 
Was made our prisoner by a knight ; 
And Douglas hath himself and cause 
Submitted to our kingdom's laws. 
The tidings of their leaders lost 
Will soon dissolve the mountain host, 
Nor would we that the vulgar feel. 
For their Chief's crimes avenging steel. 
Bear Mar our message, Braco : fly ! " 
He turn'd his steed, — "My liege, I hie- 
Yet, ere I cross this lily lawn, 
I fear the broadswords will be drawn." 
The turf the flying courser spurned, 
And to his towers the King return'd. 



XXXIII. 

Ill with King James's mood that day, 
Suited gay feast and minstrel lay ; 
Soon were dismiss'd the courtly throng, 
And soon cut short the festal song. 
Nor less upon the sadden'd town 
The evening sunk in sorrow down. 
The burghers spoke of civil jar, 
Of rumor'd feuds and mountain war. 
Of Moray, Mar, and Roderick Dhu, 
All up in arms :--the Douglas, too, 



234 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto V. 

They mourn'd him pent within the hold, 
" Where stout Earl William was of old."* 
And there his word the speaker staid, 
And finger on his lip he laid, 
Or pointed to his dagger blade. 
But jaded horsemen, from the west, 
At evening to the Castle press'd ; 
And busy talkers said they bore 
Tidings of fight on Katrine's shore ; 
At noon the deadly fray begun. 
And lasted till the set of sun. 
Thus giddy rumor shook the town, 
Till closed the Night her pennons browa 

^ Stabbed by James II. in Stirling Castle. 



CANTO SIXTH. 

THE GUARD-ROOM. 

I. 

The sun, awakening, through the smoky air 

Of the dark city casts a sullen glance, 
Rousing each caitiff to his task of care. 

Of sinful man the sad inheritance ; 
Summoning revellers from the lagging dance, 

Scaring the prowling robber to his den ; 
Gilding on battled tower the warder's lance, 

And warning student pale to leave his pen. 
And yield his drowsy eyes to the kind nurse of men. 

What various scenes, and, O ! what scenes of woe. 

Are witness'd by that red and struggling beam ! 
The fever'd patient, from his pallet low, 

Through crowded hospital beholds its stream ; 
The ruin'd maiden trembles at its gleam. 

The debtor wakes to thought of gyve and jail. 
The love-lorn wretch starts from tormenting dream ; 

The wakeful mother, by the glimmering pale, 
Trims her sick infant's couch, and soothes his feeble 



wail. 



235 



236 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI. 



II. 

At dawn the towers of Stirling rang 
With soldier-step and weapon-clang, 
While drums, with rolling note, foretell 
Relief to weary sentinel. 
Through narrow loop and casement barr'd,' 
The sunbeams sought the Court of Guard, 
And, struggling with the smoky air, 
Deaden'd the torches' yellow glare. 
In comfortless alliance shone "" 
The lights through arch of blacken'd stone, 
And show'd wild shapes in garb of war. 
Faces deformed with beard and scar, 
All haggard from the midnight watch. 
And fever'd with the stern debauch ; 
For the oak table's massive board. 
Flooded with wine, with fragments stored, 
And beakers drain'd, and cups o'erthrown, 
Show'd in what sport the night had flown. 
Some, weary, snored on floor and bench ; 
Some labor'd still their thirst to quench ; 
Some, chill'd with watching, spread their hands 
O'er the huge chimney's dying brands. 
While round them, or beside them flung, 
At every step their harness rung. 

1 MS. : " Through blacken'd arch and casement barr'd." 

2 MS. : "The lights in strange alliance shone 

Beneath the arch of blacken'd stone." 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 237 



III. 

These drew not for their fields the swordj, 

Like tenants of a feudal lord, 

Nor own'd the patriarchal claim, 

Of Chieftain in their leader's name ; 

Adventurers they, from far who roved, 

To live by battle which they loved.' 

There the Italian's clouded face. 

The swarthy Spaniard's there you trace ; 

The mountain-loving Switzer there 

More freely breathed in mountain-air ; 

The Fleming there despised the soil. 

That paid so ill the laborer's toil ; 

Their rolls show'd French and German name: 

And merry England's exiles came. 

To share, with ill-conceal'd disdain, 

Of Scotland's pay the scanty gain. 

All brave in arms, well train'd to wield 

The heavy halberd, brand, and shield ; 

In camps licentious, wild, and bold ; 

In pillage fierce and uncontroll'd ; 

And now, by holytide and feast. 

From rules of discipline released. 

IV. 

They held debate of bloody fray, 
Fought *twixt Loch Katrine and Achray. 

* See Appendix, Note P. 



238 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VK 



Fierce was their speech, and, 'mid their words. 

Their hands oft grappled to their swords ; 

Nor sunk their tone to spare the ear 

Of wounded comrades groaning near. 

Whose mangled limbs, and bodies gored, 

Bore token of the mountain sword. 

Though neighboring to the Court of Guard, 

Their prayers and feverish wails were heard ; 

Sad burden to the ruffian joke, 

And savage oath by fury spoke ! — ^ 

At length up started John of Brent, 

A yeoman from the banks of Trent ; 

A stranger to respect or fear, 

In peace a chaser of the deer. 

In host a hardy mutineer. 

But still the boldest of the crew, 

When deed of danger was to do. 

He grieved, that day, their games cut short, 

And marr'd the dicer's brawling sport. 

And shouted loud, " Renew the bowl ! 

And, while a merry catch I trowl. 

Let each the buxom chorus bear, 

Like brethren of the brand and spear." 

V. 

soldier's song. 
Our vicar still preaches that Peter and Poule 
Laid a swinging long curse on the bonny brown bowl 

1 MS. : " Sad burden to the ruffian jest, 

And riftie oaths vented by the rest." 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 239 

That there's wrath and despair in the jolly black-jack. 
And the seven deadly sins in a flagon of sack ; 
Yet whoop, Barnaby ! off with thy liquor, 
Drink upsees ' out, and a fig for the vicar ! 

Our vicar he calls it damnation to sip 

The ripe ruddy dew of a woman's dear lip, 

Says, that Beelzebub lurks in her kerchief so sly, 

And Apollyon shoots darts from her merry black eye ; 

Yet whoop. Jack ! kiss Gillian the quicker, 

Till she bloom like a rose, and a fig for the vicar ! 

Our vicar thus preaches — and why should he not? 
For the dues of his cure are the placket and pot ; 
And 'tis right of his office poor laymen to lurch. 
Who infringe the domains of our good Mother Church. 
Yet whoop, bully-boys ! off with your liquor. 
Sweet Marjorie's the word, and a fig for the vicar ! ^ 

VI. 

The warder's challenge, heard without, 
Staid in mid-roar the merry shout. 
A soldier to the portal went, — 
" Here is old Bertram, sirs, of Ghent ; 



1 Bacchanalian interjection, borrowed from the Dutch. 

2 " The greatest blemish in the poem is the ribaldrj and dull 
vulgarity which is put into the mouths of the soldiery in the guard- 
room. Mr. Scott has condescended to write a song for them, which 
will be read with pain, we are persuaded, even by his warmest 



240 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI. 

And, — beat for jubilee the drum ! 

A maid and minstrel with him come." 

Bertram, a Fleming, gray and scarr'd. 

Was entering now the Court of Guard, 

A harper with him, and, in plaid 

All muffled close, a mountain maid, 

Who backward shrank to 'scape the view 

Of the loose scene and boisterous crew. 

" What news } " they roar'd : " I only know. 

From noon till eve we fought with foe, 

As wild and as untameable 

As the rude mountains where they dwell ; 

On both sides store of blood is lost. 

Nor much success can either boast." — 

" But whence thy captives, friend } such spoil 

As theirs must needs reward thy toil.' 

Old dost thou wax, and wars grow sharp ; 

Thou now hast glee-maiden and harp ! 

Get thee an ape, and trudge the land. 

The leader of a juggler band." — ^ 

admirers; and his whole genius, and even his power of versification, 
seems to desert him when he attempts to repeat their conversation. 
Here is some of the stuff which has dropped, in this inauspicious 
attempt, from the pen of one of the first poets of his age or country," 
etc., etc. — Jeffrey. 

1 The MS reads after this : 

" Get thee an ape, and then at once 
Thou mayst renounce the warder's lance, 
And trudge through borough and through land, 
The leader of a juggler band." 

2 The jongleurs, or jugglers, as we learn from the elaborate work 
of the late Mr. Strutt, on the sports and pastimes of the people of 
England, used to call in the aid of various assistants, to render these 



CANTO VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 24 1 

VII. 

"No, comrade ; — no such fortune mine. 
After the fight these sought our line, 
That aged harper and the girl, 
And, having audience of the Earl, 
Mar bade I should purvey them steed. 
And bring them hitherward with speed. 

performances as captivating as possible. The glee-maiden was a 
necessary attendant. Her duty was tumbling and dancing; and 
therefore the Anglo-Saxon version of St. Mark's Gospel states 
Herodias to have vaulted or tumbled before King Herod. In Scot- 
land, these poor creatures seem, even at a late period, to have been 
bondswomen to their masters, as appears from a case reported by 
Fountainhall : " Reid the mountebank pursues Scott of Harden and 
his lady, for stealmg away from him a little girl, called the tumbling 
lassie, that danced upon his stage; and he claimed damages, and 
produced a contract, whereby he bought her from her mother for 
£30 Scots. But we have no slaves in Scotland, and mothers cannot 
sell their bairns ; and physicians attested the employment of tumb- 
ling would kill her; and her joints were now grown stiff, and she 
declined to return ; though she was at least a 'prentice, and so could 
not run away from her master : yet some cited Moses's law, that if a 
servant shelter himself with thee, against his master's cruelty, 
thou shalt surely not deliver him up. The Lords, renitente cancel- 
lari'o, assoilzied Harden, on the 27th of January (1687)." — Foun- 
tainhall's Decisions, vol. i. p. 439.* 

The facetious qualities of the ape soon rendered him an accept- 
able additioi^to the strolling band of the jongleur. Ben Jonson, in 
his splenetic introduction to the comedy of " Bartholomew Fair," is 
at pains to inform the audience "that he has ne'er a sword-and- 

* Though less to my purpose, I cannot help noticing a circumstance respecting 
another of this Mr. Reid's attendants, whieh occurred during James II. 's zeal for 
Catholic proselytism, and is told by Fountainhall, with dry Scotch irony: " Jajiuary 
17th, 16S7. — Reid the mountebank is received into the Popish church, and one of his 
blackamores was persuaded to accept of baptism from the Popish priests, and to 
turn Christian papist; which was a great trophy; he was called James, after the 
king and chancellor, and the Apostle James." — Ibid. p. 440. 



242 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto IV. 

Forbear your mirth and rude alarm, 

For none shall do them shame or harm." 

" Hear ye his boast ? " cried John of Brent, 

Ever to strife and jangling bent ; 

" Shall he strike doe beside our lodge. 

And yet the jealous niggard grudge 

To pay the forester his fee ? 

I'll have my share howe'er it be, 

Despite of Moray, Mar, or thee." 

Bertram his forward step withstood ; ^ 

And, burning in his vengeful mood. 

Old Allan, though unfit for strife. 

Laid hand upon his dagger-knife ; 

But Ellen boldly stepp'd between. 

And dropp'd at once the tartan screen : 

So from his morning cloud appears 

The sun of May, through summer tears. 

The savage soldiery, amazed,"" 

As on descended angel gazed ; 

Even hardy Brent, abash'd and tamed, 

Stood half admiring, half ashamed. 

buckler man in his Fair, nor a juggler with a well-educated ape to 
come over the chaine for the King of England, and back again for 
the Prince, and sit still on his haunches for the Pope and the King 
of Spaine." 

1 MS.: " Bei-tram \ ^^^, I violence withstood." 



such 
^ MS. : "While the rude soldiery, amazed 



Canto VL] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 243 



VIII. 

Boldly she spoke, — " Soldiers, attend ! 
♦ My father was the soldier's friend ; 
Cheer'd him in camps, in marches led, 
And with him in the battle bled. 
Not from the valiant, or the strong, 
Should exile's daughter suffer wrong." — 
Answer'd De Brent, most forward still 
In every feat of good or ill, — 
" I shame me of the part I play'd : 
And thou an outlaw's child, poor maid ! 
An outlaw I by forest laws. 
And merry Needwood knows the cause. 
Poor Rose, — if Rose be living now," — ^ 
He wiped his iron eye and brow, — 
" Must bear such age, I think, as thou. — 
Hear ye, my mates ; — I go to call 
The Captain of our watch to hall ; 
There lies my halberd on the floor ; 
And he that steps my halberd o'er, 
To do the maid injurious part. 
My shaft shall quiver in his heart ! — 
Beware loose speech, or jesting rough : 
Ye all know John de Brent. Enough." 

* MS. : " Should Ellen Douglas suffer wrong." 
2 MS. : " ' Mj- Rose.' — he wiped his eje and brow, - 
' Poor Rose, — if Rose be living now.' " 



244 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI. 



IX. 

7 heir Captain came, a gallant young, — 

(Of Tullibardine's house he sprung), 

Nor wore he yet the spurs of knight ; 

Gay was his mien, his humor light. 

And, though by courtesy controll'd. 

Forward his speech, his bearing bold. 

The high-born maiden ill could brook 

The scanning of his curious look 

And dauntless eye; — and yet, in sooth, 

Young Lewis was a generous youth ; 

But Ellen's lovely face and mien, 

111 suited to the garb aiid scene. 

Might lightly bear construction strange. 

And give loose fancy scope to range. 

*' Welcome to Stirlins: towers, fair maid ! 

Come ye to seek a champion's aid, 

On palfrey white, with harper hoar. 

Like errant damosei of yore } 

Does thy high quest a knight require. 

Or may the venture suit a squire ? " — 

Her dark eye flash'd ; — she paused and sigh'd,- 

" O what have I to do with pride ! — 

— Through scenes of sorrow, shame, and strife, 

A suppliant for a father's life, 

I crave an audience of the King. 

Behold to back my suit, a ring. 



Canto Vi.l THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 245 

The royal pledge of grateful claims, 
Given by the Monarch to Fitz-James." * 



X. 

The signet-ring young Lewis took, 

With deep respect and alter'd look ; 

And said, — "This ring our duties own : 

And pardon, if to worth unknown, 

In semblance mean obscurely veil'd. 

Lady, in aught my folly fail'd. 

Soon as the day flings wide his gates. 

The King shall know what suitor waits. 

Please you, meanwhile, in fitting bower 

Repose you till his waking hour ; 

Female attendants shall obey 

Your best, for service or array. 

Permit I marshal you the way." 

But, ere she follow'd, with the grace 

And open bounty of her race. 

She bade her slender purse be shared 

Among the soldiers of the guard. 

The rest with thanks their guerdon took ; 

But Brent, with shy and awkward look. 

On the reluctant maiden's hold 

Forced bluntly back the proffer'd gold ; — > 

" Forgive a haughty English heart, 

And O forget its ruder part ! 

1 MS. : *' The Monarch gave to James Fitz-James." 



246 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI. 



The vacant purse shall be my share,^ 

Which in my barret-cap I'll bear, 

Perchance, in jeopardy of war, 

Where gayer crests may keep afar." 

With thanks, — 'twas all she could, — the maid 

His rugged courtesy repaid. 



XL 

When. Ellen forth with Lewis went, 
Allan made suit to John of Brent : 
" My lady safe, O let your grace 
Give me to see my master's face ! 
His minstrel I, — to share his doom 
Bound from the cradle to the tomb. 
Tenth in descent, since first my sires 
Waked for his noble house their lyres, 
Nor one of all the race was known 
But prized its weal above their own. 
With the Chiefs birth begins our care ; 
Our harp must soothe the infant heir, 
Teach the youth tales of fight, and grace 
His earliest feat of field or chase ; 
In peace, in war, our rank we keep. 
We cheer his board, we soothe his sleep, 
Nor leave him till we pour our verse, — 
A doleful tribute! — o'er his hearse. 



MS. : "The silken purse shall serve for me, 
And in mj barret-cap shall flee." 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 24/ 



Then let me share his captive lot ; 
It is my right — deny it not ! " — 
" Little we reck," said John of Brent, 
" We Southern men, of long descent ; 
Nor wot we how a name — a word — 
Makes clansmen vassals to a lord : 
Yet kind my noble landlord's part, — - 
God bless the house of Beaudesert ! 
And, but I loved to drive the deer. 
More than to guide the laboring steer, 
I had not dwelt an outcast here. 
Come, good old Minstrel, follow me ; 
Thy Lord and Chieftain shalt thou see.'* 

. XII. 

Then from a rusted iron hook, 
A bunch of ponderous keys he took, 
Lighted a torch, and Allan led 
Through grated arch and passage dread. 
Portals they pass'd, where, deep within, 
Spoke prisoner's moan, and fetters' din ; 
Through rugged vaults,' where, loosely stored, 
Lay wheel, and axe, and headsman's sword, 
And many a hideous engine grim. 
For wrenching joint, and crushing^ limb. 
By artist formed, who deem'd it shame 
And sin to give their work a name, 

1 MS. : " Lo-v broad vaults" 

2 MS. : " Stretching:' 



248 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI. 



They halted at a low-brovv'd porch, 

And Brent to Allan gave the torch, 

While bolt and chain he backward roll'd, 

And made the bar unhasp its hold. 

They enter'd : 'twas a prison room 

Of stern security and gloom, 

Yet not a dungeon ; for the day 

Through lofty gratings found its way, 

And rude and antique garniture 

Deck'd the sad walls and oaken floor ; ^ 

Such as the rugged days of old 

Deem'd fit for captive noble's hold. 

"Here," said De Brent, "thou mayest remain ^ 

Till the Leech visit him again. 

Strict is his charge the warders tell, 

To tend the noble prisoner well." 

Retiring then, the bolt he drew, 

And the lock's murmurs growl'd anew. 

Roused at the sound, from lowly bed 

A captive feebly raised his head ; 

The wondering Minstrel look'd, and knew — 

Not his dear lord, but Roderick Dhu ! 

For, come from where Clan-Alpine fought, 

They, erring, deem'd the Chief he sought. 

1 MS. : "Flinty floor." 

^ MS. • " — Thou majst remain, 

And then, retiring, bolt and chain, 

And rvisty bar, he drew again. 

Roused at the sound," etc- 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 249 



XIII. 

As the tall ship, whose lofty prore 

Shall never stem the billows more, 

Deserted by her gallant band, 

Amid the breakers lies astrand, — 

So, on his couch, lay Roderick Dhu ! 

And oft his fever'd limbs he threw 

In toss abrupt, as when her sides 

Lie rocking in the advancing tides. 

That shake her frame with ceaseless beat, 

Yet cannot heave her from her seat ; — 

O ! how unlike her course at sea ! * 

Or his free step on hill and lea ! — 

Soon as the Minstrel he could scan, 

" What of thy lady ? — of my clan ? — 

My mother ? — Douglas ? — tell me all ! 

Have they been ruin'd in my fall ? 

Ah, yes ! or wherefore art thou here ! 

Yet speak, — speak boldly, — do not fear." — 

(For Allan, who his mood well knew. 

Was choked with grief and terror too.) 

" Who fought — who fled .? — Old man, be brief ; 

Some might — ^for they had lost their Chiei 

Who basely live } — who bravely died V — 

'' O, calm thee, Chief ! " — the Minstrel cried, 

MS. : " O I how unlike her course on main ; 
Or his free step on hill and plain! " 



250 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. £Canto VL 

" Ellen is safe ; " — '' For that, thank Heaven ! " — 

"And hopes are for the Douglas given ;-- 

The Lady Margaret too is well, 

And, for thy clan, — on field or fell, 

Has never harp of minstrel told,' 

Of combat fought so true and bold, 

Thy stately Pine is yet unbent, 

Though many a goodly bough is rent." 

XIV. 

The Chieftain rear'd his form on high, 

And fever's fire was in his eye ; 

But ghastly, pale, and livid streaks 

Checker'd his swarthy brow and cheeks. 

— *' Hark, Minstrel ! I have heard thee play, 

With measure bold, on festal day. 

In yon lone isle, . . . again where ne'er 

Shall harper play, or warrior hear ! . . . 

That stirring air that peals on high. 

O'er Dermid's race our victory. — 

Strike it ! ^ — and then, (for well thou canst,) 



* MS. : " Shall never harp of minstrel tell, 

Of combat fought so fierce and well." 

2 There are several instances, at least in tradition, of persons so 
much attached to particular tunes, as to require to hear them on their 
deathbed. Such an anecdote is mentioned bj the late Mr. Riddel of 
Glenriddel, in his collection of Border tunes, respecting an air 
called the " Dandling of the Bairns," for which a certain Gallcvidian 
laird is said to have evinced this strong mark of partiality, It is 
popularly told of a famous freebooter, that he composed the tune 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 25 1 

Free from thy minstrel-spirit glanced, 

Fling me the picture of the fight, 

When met my clan the Saxon might. 

I'll listen till my fancy hears 

The clang of swords, the crash of spears ! 

These grates, these walls, shall vanish then, 

For the fair field of fighting men. 



known by the name of Macpherson's Rant, while under sentence of 
death, and played it at the gallows-tree. Some spirited words have 
been adapted to it by Burns. A similar story is recounted of a 
Welsh bard, who composed and played on his deathbed the air 
called Dafyddy Garregg Wen. But the most curious example is 
given by Brantome, of a maid of honor at the court of France, 
entitled, Mademoiselle de Limeuil. " Durant sa maladie, dont elle 
trespassa, jamais elle ne cessa, ains causa tousjours ; car elle estoit 
fort grande parleuse, brocardeuse, et tres-bien et fort a propos, et 
tres-belle avec cela. Quand I'heure de sa fin fut venue, elle fit venir 
a soy son valet (ainsi que le filles de la cour en ont chacune un), qui 
s'appelloit Julien, et scavoit tres-bien joiier du violon. 'Julien,' luy 
dit elle, ' prenez vostre violon, et sonnez moy tousjours jusques a ce 
que me voyez morte (car je m'y en vais) la defaite des Suisses, et le 
mieux que vous pourrez, et quand vous serez sur le mot, ' Tout est 
perdu,' sonnez le par quatre ou cing fois le plus piteusement que 
vous pourrez, ce qui fit I'autre, et ellemesme luy adoit de la voix, et 
quand ce vint ' tout est perdu,' elle le reitera par deux fois; et se 
tournant de I'autre coste du chevet. elle dit \ ses compagnes : ' Tout 
est perdu a ce coup, et a bon escient; ^t ainsi deceda. Voila une 
morte joj^euse et plaisante. Je tiens se conte de deux de ses compagnes 
dignes de foi, qui virent jouer ce mystere." — Oeuvres de Braiiioine^ 
iii 507. The tune to which this fair lady chose to make her final 
exit was composed on the defeat of the Swiss at Marignano. The 
burden is quoted by Panurge, in Rabelais, and consists of these words, 
imitating the jargon of ""he Swiss, which is a mixture of French and 
German — 

•Tout est verlore 
La Tintelore, 
Tout est verlore, bi Got ! " 



252 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VL 



And my free spirit burst away, 

As if it soar'd from battle fray." 

The trembling Bard with awe obey'd, — = 

Slow on the harp his hand he laid ; 

But soon remembrance of the sight 

He witness'd from the mountain's height, 

With what old Bertram told at night/ 

Awaken'd the full power of song, 

And bore him in career along ; — 

As shallop launch'd on river's tide, 

That slow and fearful leaves the side, 

But when it feels the middle stream. 

Drives downward swift as lightning's beam. 

XV. 

BATTLE OF BEAl' AN DUINE.^ 

"The Minstrel came once more to view 
The eastern ridge of Benvenue, 
For ere he parted he would say 
Farewell to lovely Loch Achray — 

' The MS. has not this line. 

2 A skirmish actually took place at a pass thus called in tha 
Trosachs, and closed with the remarkable incident mentioned in the 
text. It was greatly posterior in date to the reign of James V. 

"In this roughly-wooded island,* the country people secreted 
their wives and children, and their most valuable effects from the 
rapacity of Cromwell's soldiers, during their inroad into this coun- 
try, in the time of the republic. These invaders not venturing to 
ascend by the ladders, along the side of the lake, took a more cir- 
cuitous road thi-ough the heart of the Trosachs, the most frequented 

* That at the eastern extremity of Loch Katrine, so often mentioned in the text. 



oANvo VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 253 

Where shall he find irx foreign land, 
So lone a lake, so sweet a strand ! — 
There is no breeze upon the fern 

No ripple on the lake. 
Upon her eyry nods the erne, 

The deer has sought the brake ; 
The small birds will not sing aloud 

The springing trout lies still. 
So darkly glooms yon thunder-cloud, 
That swathes, as with a purple shroud 

Benledi's distant hill. 

path at that time, which penetrates the wilderness about half waj 
between Binean and the lake, bj a tract called Yea-chilleach, or the 
Old Wife's Bog. 

" In one of the defiles of this bj-road, the men of the country at 
that time hung upon the rear of the invading enemj, and shot one 
of Cromwell's men, whose grave marks the scene of action, and 
gives name to that pass.* In revenge of this insult, the soldiers 
resolved to plunder the island, to violate the women, and put the 
children to death. With this brutal intention, one of the party, 
more expert than the rest, swam towards the island, to fetch the 
boat to his comrades, which had carried the women to their asylum, 
and lay moored in one of the creeks. His companions stood on the 
shore of the mainland, in full view of all that was to pass, waiting 
anxiously for his return with the boat. But just as the swimmer 
had got to the nearest point of the island, and was laying hold of a 
black rock, to get on shore, a heroine, who stood on the very point 
where he meant to land, hastily snatching a da'^ger from below her 
apron, with one stroke severed his head from the body. His party 
seeing this disaster, and relinquishing all future hope of revenge or 
conquest, made the best of their way out of their perilous situation. 
This amazon's great grandson lives at the Bridge of Turk, who, besides 
others, attests the anecdote." — Sketch of the Scenery ?iear Callcu' 
der, Stirling, 1806, p. 20. I have only to add to this account, that 
the heroine's name was Helen Stuart. 

* Beallach an duine. 



254 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto Vi 

Is it the thunder's solemn sound 

That mutters deep and dread, 
Or echoes from the groaning ground 

The warrior's measured tread ? 
Is it the lightning's quivering glance 

That on the thicket streams, 
Or do they flash on spear and lance 

The sun's retiring beams? 
— 1 see the dagger-crest of Mar, 
I see the Moray's silver star, 
Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war, 
That up the lake comes winding far! 
To hero boune for battle-strife, 

Or bard of martial lay, 
'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life. 

One glance at their array. 



XVI. 

"Their Hght-arm'd archers far and near 

Survey'd the tangled ground. 
Their centre ranks, with pike and spear. 

A twilight forest frown'd. 
Their barbed horsemen, in the rear, 

The stern battalia crown'd. 
No cymbal clash'd, no clarion rang. 

Still were the pipe and drum ; 
Save heavy tread, and armor's clang. 

The sullen march was dumb. 



Canto VL] THE LADY OF THE LAKE-. 255 

There breathed no wind their crests to shake, 

Or wave their flags abroad ; 
Scarce the frail aspen seem'd to quake, 

That shadow'd o'er their road. 
Their vaward scouts no tidings bring, 

Can rouse no lurking foe, 
Nor spy a trace of living thing 

Save when they stirr'd the roe ; 
The host moves, like a deep-sea wave> 
Where rise no rocks its pride to brave, 
High-swelling, dark, and slow. 
The lake is pass'd, and now they gain 
A narrow and a broken plain, 
Before the Trosach's rugged jaws : 
And here the horse and spearmen pause^ 
While, to explore the dangerous glen, 
Dive through the pass the archer-men. 



XVII. 

" At once there rose so wild a yell 
Within that dark and narrow dell, 
As all the fiends, from heaven that fell, 
Had peal'd the banner-cry of hell ! 

Forth from the pass in tumult driven, 
Like chaff before the wind of heaven. 

The archery appear ; 
For life! for life! their flight they ply- 
And shriek, and shout, and battle-cry, 



556 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto Vi. 

And plaids and bonnets waving high, 
And broadswords flashing to the sky, 

Are maddening in the rear. 
Onward they drive in dreadful race. 

Pursuers and pursued ; 
Before that tide of flight and chase, 
i^ow shall it keep its rooted place, 

The spearmen's twilight wood? — 
'Down, down,' cried Mar, 'your lances down! 

Bear back both friend and foe ! ' 
Like reeds before the tempest's frown, 
That serried grove of lances brown 

At once lay levell'd low ; 
And closely shouldering side to side, 
The bristling ranks the onset bide. — 
* We'll quell the savage mountaineer, 

As their Tinchel^ cows the game! 
They come as fleet as forest deer. 

We'll drive tljem back as tame 

XVIli. 

"Bearing before them, in their coarse. 
The relics of the archer force. 
Like wave with crest of sparkling foam, 
Right onward did Clan-Alpine come. 

^ The MS. has not this couplet. 

2 A circle of sportsmen, who, by surrounding a great space, and 
•gradually narrowing, brought immense quantities of deer together, 
#hich usually made desperate efforts to break through the Tinchel 



Canto VI.J THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 257 



Above the tide each broadsword bright 
Was brandishing hke beam of light, 

Each targe was dark below ; 
And with the ocean's mighty swing, 
When heaving to the tempest's wing, 
They hiirl'd them on the foe. 
I l>eard the lance's shivering crash, 
As when the whirlwind rends the ash, 
I he.rd the broadsword's deadly clang. 
As if an hundred anvils rang! 
But M^ ray wheel'd his rearward rank 
Of horsemen on Clan-Alpine's flank, 
— ' l\Iy banner-man, advance ! 
I see,' he cried, 'their column shake. 
Now, galknts! for your ladies' sake. 

Upon them with the lance ! ' — 
The horsemen dashed among the rout. 

As deer break through the broom ; 
Their steeds are stout, their swords are out, 

They soon make lightsome room. 
Clan-Alpine's best are backward borne — 

Where, where was Roderick then ! 
One blast upon his bugle horn 
Were worth a thousand men. 
And refluent through the pass of fear ' 
The battle's tide was pour'd ; 

MS. : " And refluent down the darksome pass 
The battle's tide was pour'd ; 
There toil'd the spearman's struggling spear. 
There raged the mountain sword." 



2S8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI 

Vanish'd the Saxon's struggling spear, 

Vanish'd the mountain sword. 
As Bracklinn's chasm, so black and steep, 

Receives her roaring linn, 
As the dark caverns of the deep 
Suck the wild whirlpool in. 
So did the deep and darksome pass 
Devour the battle's mingled mass : 
None linger now upon the plain. 
Save those who ne'er shall fight again. 



XIX. 

" Now westward rolls the battle's din. 
That deep and doubling pass within, 
— Minstrel, away ! the work of fate * 
Is bearing on : its issue wait, 
Where the rude Trosach's dread defile 
Opens on Katrine's lake and isle. — 
Gray Benvenue I soon repass'd. 
Loch Katrine lay beneath me cast. 
The sun is set ; — the clouds are met 

The lowering scowl of heaven 
An inky view of vivid blue 

To the deep lake is given ; 
Strange gusts of wind from mountain glen 
Swept o'er the lake, then sunk agen. 

* MSo : '• Away ! away ! the work of fate ! " 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 259 



I heeded not the eddying surge, 
Mine eye but saw the Trosach's gorge, 
Mine ear but heard the sullen sound, 
Which like an earthquake shook the ground, 
And spoke the stern and desperate strife 
That parts not but with parting life,' 
Seeming, to minstrel ear, to toll^ 
The dirge of many a passing soul, 
Nearer it comes — the dim-wood glen 
The martial flood disgorged agen, 

But not in mingled tide ; 
The plaided warriors of the North 
High on the mountain thunder forth 

And overhang its side ; 
While by the lake below appears 
The dark'ning cloud of Saxon spears. ^ 
At weary bay each shatter'd band. 
Eyeing their foeman, sternly stand ; 
Their banners stream like tatter'd sail, 
That flings its fragments to the gale, 
And broken arms and disarray 
Mark'd the fell havoc of the day. 

1 — " the loveliness in death 
That parts not quite with parting breath." 

Byron's Giaour* 

^ MS. : "And seem'd to minstrel ear, to toll 
The parting dirge of many a soul." 

^ MS. : " While bv the darken'd lake below, 
File out the spearmen of the foe." 



26o THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VL 



XX. 

"Viewing the mountain's ridge askance, 
The Saxon stood in sullen trance, 
Till Moray pointed with his lance. 

And cried — ' Behold yon isle ! — 
See ! none are left to guard its strand, 
But women weak, that wring the hand ! 
'Tis there of yore the robber band 

Their booty wont to pile; — 
My purse, with bonnet-pieces store. 
To him will swim a bow-shot o'er. 
And loose a shallop from the shore. 
Lightly we'll tame the war-wolf then, 
Lords of his mate and brood, and den.' 
Forth from the ranks a spearman sprung, 
On earth his casque and corslet rung. 
He plunged him in the wave ; — 
All saw the deed — the purpose knew, 
And to their clamors Benvenue 

A mingled echo gave ; 
The Saxon shout, their mate to cheer, 
The helpless females scream for fear, 
And yells for rage the mountaineer. 
'Twas then, as by the outcry riven, 
Pour'd down at once the lowering heaven ; 
A whirlwind swept Loch Katrine's breast, 
Her billows rear'd their snowy crest. 



Canto VI.] THE LaDY OF THE LAKE. 25l 



Well for the swimmer swellVl they high, 

To mar the Highland marksman's eye ; 

For round him shower'd, 'mid rain and hail 

The vengeful arrows of the Gael. — 

In vain. — He nears the isle — and lo ! 

His hand is on a shallop's bow. 

— Just then a flash of lightning came, 

It tinged the waves and strand with fiame : — ' 

I mark'd Duncraggan's widow'd dame, 

Behind an oak I saw her stand, 

A naked dirk gleam'd in her hand ; — 

It darken'd, — but amid the moan 

Of waves I heard a dying groan ; — 

Another flash ! — the spearman floats 

A weltering corse beside the boats. 

And the stern Matron o'er him stood. 

Her hand and dagger streaming blood. 

XXI. 

" * Revenge ! revenge ! ' the Saxons cried, 
The Gaels' exulting shout replied. 
Despite the elemental rage. 
Again they hurried to engage ; 
But ere they closed in desperate fight, 
Bloody with spurring came a knight. 
Sprung from his horse, and, from a crag, 
Waved, twixt the hosts a milk-white flag. 

'MS. reads: " It tinged the boats and lake with flame." The eighf 
closing lines of the stanza are interpolated on a slip of paper. 



262 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VL 

Clarion and trumpet by his side 

Rung forth a truce-note high and wide, 

While, in the Monarch's name, afar 

A herald's voice forbade the war. 

For Bothwell's lord, and Roderick bold. 

Were both, he said, in captive hold." 

— But here the lay made sudden stand. 

The harp escaped the Minstrel's hand ! — 

Oft had he stolen a glance, to spy 

How Roderick brook'd his minstrelsy : 

At first, the Chieftain, to the chime. 

With lifted hand kept feeble time : 

That motion ceased, — yet feeling strong 

Varied his look as changed the sound ; ' 

At length, no more his deafen'd ear 

The minstrel melody can hear ; 

His face grows sharp, — his hands are clencb'd, 

As if some pang his heart-strings wrench'd : 

Set are his teeth, his fading eye ^ 

Is sternly fixed on vacancy ; 

Thus, motionless, and moanless, drew 

His parting breath, stout Roderick Dhu ! — -^ 

' MS. : *' Glowed in his look, as swell'd the song." 



MS. "his 



r glazing -> 
\ fierv J 



eje. 



s " Rob Roy, while on his deathbed, learned that a person, wita 
whom he was at enmity, proposed to visit him. ' Raise me from 
my bed,' said the invalid ; ' throw my plaid around me, and bring 
me my claymore, dirk and pistols, — it shall never be said that a 
foeman saw Rob Roy MacGregor defenceless and imarmed.' His 
foeman, conjectured to be on'^ of the MacLarens before and after 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 263 

•' - — — — — 

Old Allan-Bane look'd on aghast, 
While grim and still his spirit pass'd ; 
But when he saw that life was fled, 
He pour'd his wailing o'er the dead. 



XXII. 

LAMENT. 

"And art thou cold and lowly laid,* 

Thy foeman's dread, thy people's aid, 

Breadalbane's boast, Clan-Alpine's shade ! 

For thee shall none a requiem say ? 

— For thee, — who loved the minstrel's lay. 

For thee of Bothwell's house the stay, 

The shelter of her exiled line,^ 

E'en in this prison-house of thine, 

I'll wail for Alpine's honor'd Pine. 

" What groans shall yonder valleys fill ! 
What shrieks of grief shall rend yon hill ! 
What tears of burning rage shall thrill, 



mentioned, entered and paid his compliments, enquiring after the 
lealth of his formidable neighbor. Rob Roy maintained a cold, 
haughty civility during their short conference; and so soon as he 
had left the house, ' Now,' he said, ' all is over — let the piper play. 
Ha til mi tiilidh'' [we return no more], and he is said to have 
expired before the dirge was finished." — lutroduction to Rob Roy, 
Waverley Novels, vol. vii. p. 85. 

1 MS. : " ' And art thou gone,' the Minstrel said." 

2 MS. : ' The mightiest of a mighty line." 



264 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI. 

=»^— — —~ ■ „« 

When mourns thy tribe thy battles done, 
Thy fall before the race was won, 
Thy sword ungirt ere set of sun ! 
There breathes not clansman of thy line, 
But would have given his life for thine. — 

woe for Alpine's honor'd Pine ! 

" Sad was thy lot on mortal stage ! — • 
The captive thrush may brook the cage. 
The prison'd eagle dies for rage. 
Brave spirit, do not scorn my strain ! 
And, when its notes awake again. 
Even she, so long beloved in vain. 
Shall with my harp her voice combine, 
And mix her woe and tears with mine, 
To wail Clan Alpine's honor'd Pine." 

XXIII. 

Ellen, the while, with bursting heart, 
Remain'd in lordly bower apart. 
Where play'd, with many-color'd gleams, 
Through storied pane the rising beams. 
In vain on gilded roof they fall, 
And lightened up a tapestried wall, 
^nd for her use a menial train 
A rich collation spread in vain. 
The banquet proud, the chamber gray, ' 
Scarce drew one curious glance astray; 

1 MS. : " The banquet gav, the chamber's pride, 

Scarce drew one curious glance aside." 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 265 

Or, if she look'd, 'twas but to say. 

With better omen dawn'd the day 

In that lor t isle, where waved on high 

The dun-deer's hide for canopy ; 

Where oft her noble father shared 

The simple meal her care prepared, 

While Lufra, crouching by her side. 

Her station claim'd with jealous pride. 

And Douglas, bent on woodland game/ 

Spoke of the chase to Malcolm Graeme, 

Whose answer oft at random made, 

The wandering of his thoughts betrayed. — 

Those who such simple joys have known, 

Are taught to prize them when they're gone. 

But sudden, see, she lifts her head ! 

The window seeks with cautious tread. 

What distant music has the power 

To win her in this woful hour ! 

'Twas from a turret that o'erhung 

Her latticed bower, the strain was suno-. 

XXIV. 

LAY OF THE IMPRISONED HUNTSMAN. 

"My hawk is tired of perch and hood. 
My idle greyhound loathes his food. 
My horse is weary of his stall, 
And I am sick of captive thrall. 

1 MS. : "Earnest on his p-ame." 



266 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI. 

I wish I were as I have been, 
Hunting the hart in forest green, 
With bended bow and bloodhound free, 
For that's the life is meet for me. ' 
I hate to learn the ebb of time. 
From yon duU^ steeple's drowsy chime, 
Or mark it as the sunbeams crawl, 
Inch after inch, along the wall. 
The lark was wont my matins ring, ^ 
The sable rook my vespers sing ; 
These towers, although a king's they be/ 
Have not a hall of joy for me.^ 
No more at dawning morn I rise, 
And sun myself in Ellen's eyes, 
Drive the fleet deer the forest through, 
And homeward wend with evening dew 
A blithesome welcome blithely meet, 
And lay my trophies at her feet 
While fled the eve on wing of glee, — 
That life is lost to love and me ! " 



XXV. 

That heart-sick lay was hardly said, 
The list'ner had not turn'd her head. 



' MS. : " was meant for me." 

2 MS. : " From darken'd steeple's." 

3 MS. : " The lively lark my matins rung, 

The sable rook my vespers sung." 
* MS. : " Have not a hall should harbor me-' 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 267 

It trickled still, the starting tear, 

When light a footstep struck her ear, 

And Snowdoun's graceful knight was near. 

She turn'd the hastier, lest again 

The prisoner should renew his strain. 

" O welcome, brave Fitz-James ! " she said, 

" How may an almost orphan maid 

Pay the deep debt — ^'O say not so! 

To me no gratitude you owe. 

Not mine, alas ! the boon to give, 

And bid thy noble father live ; 

I can but be thy guide, sweet maid, 

With Scotland's King thy suit to aid. 

No tyrant he, though ire and pride 

May lay his better mood aside. 

Come, Ellen, come ! — 'tis more than time. 

He holds his court at morning prime." 

With beating heart, and bosom wrung, 

As to a brother's arm she clung, 

Gently he dried the falling tear, 

And gently whisper'd hope and cheer; 

Her faltering steps half led, half stay'd, 

Through gallery fair and high arcade, 

Till, at his touch, its wings of pride 

A portal arch unfolded wide. 



268 THE LADY OF THE LAKR. [Canto VL 



XXVI. 

Within 'twas brilliant all and light," ' 
A thronging scene of figures bright ; 
It glow'd on Ellen's dazzled sight. 
As when the setting sun has given 
Ten thousand hues to summer even, 
And from their tissue, fancy frames 
Aerial knights and fairy dames. 
Still by Fitz-James her footing stay'd ; 
A few faint steps she forward made, 
Then slow her drooping head she raised, 
And fearful round the presence gazed ; 
For him she sought, who own'd this state,' 
The dreaded prince whose will was fate! — 
She gazed on many a princely port. 
Might well have ruled a royal court ; 
On many a splendid garb she gazed, — 
Then turn'd bewilder'd and amazed. 
For all stood bare ; and, in the room, 
Fitz-James alone wore cap and plume, 
To him each lady's look was lent ; 
On him each courtier's eye was bent ; 
Midst furs and silks and jewels sheen, 
Ke stood in simple Lincoln green. 



5 MS. : " Within 'twas brilliant all, and bright 

The vision glow'd on Ellen's sight." 

2 MS. : " For him who own'd this rojal state." 



Canio VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 269 



The centre of the ghttering ring. — 

And Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's King!* 



XXVII. 

As wreath of snow, on mountain-breast, 

Slides from the rock that gave it rest. 

Poor Ellen glided from her stay/ 

And at the Monarch's feet she lay ; 

No word her choking voice commands, -— 

She show'd the ring — she clasp'd her hands. 

O ! not a moment could he brook, 

The generous prince, that suppliant look ! 

Gently he raised her, — and, the while, 

Check'd with a glance the circle's smile ; 

Graceful, but grave, her brow he kiss'd, 

And bade her terrors be dismiss'd : 

'' Yes, Fair ; the wandering poor Fitz-James 

The fealty of Scotland claims. 

To him thy woes, thy wishes, bring; 

He will redeem his signet-ring. 

Ask nought for Douglas ; — yester even, 

His prince and he have much forgiven : 

Wrong hath he had from slanderous tongue, 

I, from his rebel kinsmen wrong. 

We would not to the vulgar crowd 

Yield Vv^hat they craved with clamor loud ; 



1 See Appendix, Note Q^ 

2 MS. — " shrinking, quits her stay." 



270 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI. 

Calmly we heard and judged his cause, 

Our council aided, and our laws. 

I stanch'd thy father's death-feud stern, 

With stout De Vaux and Grey Glencairn; 

And Bothwell's Lord henceforth we own 

The friend and bulwark of our Throne. — 

But, lovely infidel, how now } 

What clouds thy misbelieving brow } 

Lord James of Douglas, lend thine aid ; 

Thou must confirm this doubting maid.'* 



XXVIIL 

Then forth the noble Douglas sprung, 

And on his neck his daughter hung. 

The monarch drank, that happy hour, 

The sweetest, holiest draught of Power, — 

When it can say, with godlike voice, 

Arise, sad virtue, and rejoice ! 

Yet would not James the general eye 

On Nature's raptures long should pry ; 

He stepp'd between — '' Nay, Douglas, nay, 

Steal not m}/ proselyte away ! 

The riddle 'tis my right to read. 

That brought this happy chance to speed. =- 

Yes, Ellen, when, disguised, I stray 

In life's more low but happier way,' 

1 MS. : "In lowly life's more happj way." 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 27I 

'Tis under name which veils my power, 

Nor falsely veils — for Stirling's tower 

Of yore the name of Snowdoun claims/ 

And Normans call me James Fitz-James. 

Thus watch I o'er insulted laws, 

Thus learn to right the injured cause." — 

Then, in a tone apart and low, 

— ''Ah, little trait'ress ! none must know 

What idle dream, what lighter thought, 

What vanity full dearly bought. 



1 William of Worcester, who wrote about the middle of the 
fifteenth century, calls Stirling Castle Snowdoun. Sir David 
Lindsay bestows the same epithet upon it in his complaint of the 
Papingo : 

" Adieu, fair Snawdoun, with thy towers high, 
Thy chapele-royal, park, and table round; 
May, June, and July, would I dwell in thee, 
Were I a man, to hear the birdis sound 
Whilk doth againe thy royal rock rebound." 

ISIr. Chalmers, in his late excellent edition of Sir David Lindsay's 
works, has refuted the chimerical derivation of Snawdoun from 
sneddiug, or cutting. It was probably derived from the romantic 
legend which connected Stirling with King Arthur, to which the 
mention of the Round Table gives countenance. The ring within 
which justs were formerly practised, in the castle park, is still called 
the Round Table. Snawdoun is the official title of one of the 
Scottish heralds, whose epithets seem in all countries to have been 
fantastically adopted from ancient history or romance. 

It appears (see Appendix, Note Q) that the real name by which 
James was actually distinguished in his private excursions, was the 
Goodmufi of Ballenguich : derived from a steep pass leading up to 
the Castle of Stirling, so called. But the epithet would not have 
suited poetry, and would besides at once, and prematurely, have 
announced the plot to many of my countrymen, among whom the 
traditional stories above mentioned are still current. 



272 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VL 

Join'd to thine eye's dark witchcraft, drew 

My spell-bound steps to Benvenue/ 

In dangerous hour, and almost gave 

Thy Monarch's life to mountain glaive ! " — 

Aloud he spoke — '' Thou still dost hold 

That little talisman of gold, 

Pledge of my faith, Fitz-James's ring — ^ 

What seeks fair Ellen of the king ? " 



XXIX. 

Full well the conscious maiden guess'd 
He probed the weakness of her breast ; 
But, with that consciousness, there came 
A lightening of her fears for Graeme, 
And 3 more she deem'd the monarch's ire 
Kindled 'gainst him, who, for her sire 
Rebellious broadsword boldly drew ; 
And, to her generous feeHng true. 
She craved the grace of Roderick Dhu. — = 
" Forbear thy suit : — the King of kings 
Alone can stay life's parting wings. 



1 MS. : " Thy sovereign back > , ,, „ 

^, . , ^ ? to Benvenue. 

Thy sovereign s steps ) 

2 MS. : " Pledge of Fitz-James's faith, the ring." 

^ MS. : '• And in her breast strove maiden shame; 
More deep she deem'd the Monarch's ire 
Kindled 'gainst him, who, for her sire, 
Against his sovereign broadsword drew; 
And, with a pleading, warm and true, 
She craved the grace of Roderick Dhu." 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 2/3 

I know his heart, I know his hand, 

Have shared his cheer and proved his brand : — 

My fairest earldom would I give 

To bid Clan-Alpine's Chieftain live! — 

Hast thou no other boon to crave ? 

No other captive friend to save ? " 

Blushing, she turn'd her from the King, 

And to the Douglas gave the ring, 

As if she wish'd her sire to speak 

The suit that stain'd her glowing cheek. — 

" Nay, then, my pledge has lost its force. 

And stubborn justice holds her course. — 

Malcolm, come forth ! " — And, at the word, 

Down kneel'd the Graeme ' to Scotland's Lord. 

"For thee, rash youth, no suppliant sues, 

From thee may Vengeance claim her dues. 

Who, nurtured underneath our smile. 

Hast paid our care by treacherous wile, 

And sought, amid thy faithful clan, 

A refuge for an outlaw'd man. 



1 "Malcolm Graeme has too insignificant a part assigned him, 
considering the favor in which he is held both by Ellen and the 
author; and in bringing out the shaded and imperfect character of 
Roderick Dhu, as a contrast to the purer virtue of his rival, Mr. 
Scott seems to have fallen into the common error of making him 
more interesting than him whose virtues he was intended to set off, 
and converted the villain of the piece in some measure into its hero. 
A modern poet, however, maj^ perhaps be pardoned for an error, of 
which Milton himself is thought not to have kept clear, and for 
which there seems so natural a cause in the difference between 
poetical and amiable characters." — ^^Jeffrey. 



274 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. [Canto VI 

Dishonoring thus thy loyal name. — 

Fetters and warder for the Graeme ! " 

His chain of gold the King unstrung, 
The links o'er Malcolm's neck he flung, 
Then gently drew the glittering band, 
And laid the clasp on Ellen's hand.' 



Harp of the North, farewell ! The hills grow dark, 

On purple peaks a deeper shade descending ; 
In twilight copse the glow-worm lights her spark, 

The deer, half-seen, are to the covert wending. 
Resume thy wizard elm ! the fountain lending, 

And the wild breeze, thy wilder minstrelsy ; 
Thy numbers sweet with nature's vespers blending, 

With distant echo from the fold and lea. 
And herd-boy's evening pipe, and hum nf housing bee. 

1 . . . "And now, waiving myself, let me talk to you of the 
Prince Regent. He ordered me to be presented to him at a ball ; 
and after some sayings peculiarly pleasing from royal lips, as to my 
own attempts, he talked tome of you and yoxxx immortalities; he 
preferred you to every bard past and present, and asked which of 
your works pleased me most. It was a difficult question. I answered, 
I thought the ' Lay.' He said his own opinion was nearly similar. 
In speaking of the others, I told him that I thought you more particu- 
larly the poet of Princess, as they never appeared more fascinating 
than in ' Marmion,' and the ' Lady of the Lake.' He was pleased 
to coincide, and to dwell on the description of your James's as no 
less royal than poetical. He spoke alternately of Homer and your- 
self, and seemed well acquainted with both," &c. — Letter from 
Lord Byron to Sir Walter Scott, July 6, 1812. Byron's Life and 
Works, vol. ii., p. 156. 



Canto VI.] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 275 

Yet, once again, farewell, thou Minstrel Harp ! 

Yet, once again, forgive my feeble sway. 
And little reck I of the censure sharp 

May idly cavil at an idle lay. 
Much have I owed thy strains on life's long way. 

Through secret woes the world has never kncwn^ 
When on the weary night dawn'd wearier day, 

And bitterer was the grief devour'd alone. 
That I o'erlive such woes, Enchantress ! is thine own. 

Hark ! as my lingering footsteps slow retire, 

Some Spirit of the Air has waked thy string 1 
'Tis now a seraph bold, with touch of fire, 

'Tis now the brush of Fairy's frolic wing. 
Receding now, the dying numbers ring 

Fainter and fainter down the rugged dell. 
And now the mountain breezes scarcely bring 

A wandering witch-note of the distant spell — 
And now, 'tis silent all ! — Enchantress, fare thee well ! ' 



' On a coinparison of the merits of this poem with the two former 
productions of the same unque tioned genius, we are inclined to 
bestow on it a ver}- decided preference over both. It would perhaps 
be difficult to select any one passage of such genuine inspiration, as 
one or two that might be pointed out in the Lay of the Last 
Minstrel, — and, perhaps, in strength and discrimination of character, 
it may fall short of Marmion ; although we are loath to resign either 
the rude and savage generosity of Roderick, the romantic chivalry 
of James, or the playful simplicity, the affectionate tenderness, the 
modest courage of Helen Douglas, to the claims of any competitors 
in the last-mentioned poem. But, for interest and artificial manage- 
micnt in the story, for ge7ieral ease and grace of versification, and 
correctness of language, the Lady of th^; Lake must be universally 



276 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. (Canto VI. 

allowed, we think, to excel, and very far excel, either of her prede- 
cessors. — Critical Review. 

"There is nothing in Mr. Scott of the severe and majestic style 
of Milton — or of the terse and fine composition of Pope — or of the 
elaborate elegance and melody of Campbell — or even of the flow- 
ing and redundant diction of Southey, — but there is a medley of 
bright images and glowing, set carelessly and loosely together — a 
diction tinged successively with the careless richness of Shakspeare, 
the harshness and antique simplicity of the old romances, the home- 
liness of vulgar ballads and anecdotes, and the sentimental glitter 
of the most modern poetry — passing from the borders of the 
ludicrous to those of the sublime — alternately minute and energetic 
— sometimes artificial, and frequently negligent, but always full of 
spirit and vivacity — abounding in images, that are striking at fi.rst 
sight to minds of every contexture — ar.-^ never expressing a senti- 
ment which it can cost the most ordinary reader any exertion to 
comprehend. Upon the whole, we are inclined to think more highly 
of the Lady of the Lake than of either of its author's former publica- 
tions. We are more sure, however, that it has fewer faults, than 
that it has greater beauties ; and as its beauties bear a strong resem- 
blance to those with which the public has been already made familiar 
in these celebrated works, we should not be surprised if its popu- 
larity were less splendid and remarkable. For our own part, how- 
ever, we are of opinion, that it will be oftener read hereafter than 
either of them ; and that if it had appeared first in the series, their 
reception would have been less favorable than that which it has 
experienced. It is more polished in its diction, and more regular 
in its versification; the story is constructed with infinitely more 
skill and address ; there is a greater proportion of pleasing and 
tender passages, with much less antiquarian detail ; and, upon the 
whole, a larger variety of characters, more artfully and judiciously 
contrasted. There is nothing so fine, perhaps, as the battle in 
Marmion — or so picturesque as some of the scattered sketches in 
the Lay ; but there is a richness and a spirit in the whole piece, 
which does not pervade either of these poems — a profusion of inci- 
dent, and a shifting brilliancy of coloring, that reminds us of the 
witchery of Ariosto — and a constant elasticity, and occasional 
energy, v^-'hich seems to belong more peculiarly to the author now 
before us " — Jeffrey. 



APPENDIX 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



APPENDIX. 



Note A. 



A gray-hair' d sire., xvhose eye intent 
Was on the vision'' d future bent. — P. 45. 

If force of evidence could authorize us to believe facts 
inconsistent with the general laws of nature, enough might 
be produced in favor of the existence of the Second-sight. 
It is called in Gaelic Taishitaraugh^ from Tais/i, an unreal or 
shadowy appearance ; and those possessed of the faculty are 
called Taishatrin, which may be aptly translated visionaries. 
Martin, a steady believer in the second sight, ^ives the fol- 
lowing account of it : — 

" The second-sight is a singular faculty, of seeing an other- 
wise invisible object, without any previous means used by the 
person that used it for that end ; the vision makes such a 
lively impression upon the seers, that they neither see, nor 
think of anything else, except the vision, as long as it con- 
tinues ; and then they appear pensive or jovial, according to 
the object that was represented to them. 

"At the sight of a vision, the eyelids of the person are 
erected, and the eyes continue staring until the object vanish. 
This is obvious to others who are by when the persons happen 
to see a vision, and occurred more than once to my own 
observation, and to others that were with me. 

" There is one in Skie, of whom his acquaintance observed, 
that when he sees a vision, the inner part of his eyelids turns 
so far upwards, that, after the object disappears, he must 
draw them down with his fingers, and sometimes employ 

279 



28o THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

others to draw them down, which he finds to be the much 
easier way. 

" This faculty of the second-sight does not Hneally descend 
in a family, as some imagine, for I know several parents who 
are endowed with it, but their children not, and vice versa ; 
neither is it acquired by any previous compact. And, after a 
strict inquiry, I could never learn that this faculty was com- 
municable any way whatsoever. 

" The seer knows neither the object, time, nor place of a 
vision before it appears ; and the same object is often seen 
by different persons living at a considerable distance from 
one another. The true way of judging as to the time and 
circumstance of an object, is by observation ; for several per- 
sons of judgment, without this faculty, are more capable to 
judge of the design of a vision, than a novice that is a seer. 
If an object appear in the day or night, it will come to pass 
sooner or later accordingly. 

" If an object is seen early in the morning (which is not 
frequent), it will be accomplished in a few hours afterwards. 
If at noon, it will commonly be accomplished that very day. 
If in the evening, perhaps that night ; if after candles be 
lighted, it will be accomplished that night ; the latter always 
in accomplishment, by weeks, months, and sometimes years, 
according to the time of night the vision is seen. 

" When a shroud is perceived about one, it is a sure prog- 
nostic of death : the time is judged according to the height of 
it about the person : for if it is seen above the middle, death 
is not to be expected for the space of a year, and perhaps 
some months longer ; and as it is frequently seen to ascend 
higher towards the head, death is concluded to be at hand 
within a few days, if not hours, as daily experience confirms. 
Examples of this kind were shown me, when the persons of 
whom the observations were then made enjoyed perfect 
health. 



APPENDIX. 281 

" One instance was lately foretold by a seer, that was a 
novice, concerning the death of one of my acquaintance ; this 
was communicated to a few only, and with great confidence : 
I being one of the number, did not in the least regard it, 
until the death of the person, about the time foretold, did 
confirm me of the certainty of the prediction. The novice 
mentioned above, is now a skilful seer, as appears from many 
late instances; he lives in the parish of St. Mary's, the most 
northern in Skie. 

" If a woman is seen standing at a man's left hand, it is a 
presage that she will be his wife, whether they be married to 
others, or unmarried at the time of the apparition. 

" If two or three women are seen at once near a man's left 
hand, she that is next him will undoubtedly be his wife first, 
and so on, whether all three, or the man, be single or married 
at the time of the vision or not ; of which there are several 
late instances among those of my acquaintance. It is an 
ordinary thing for them to see a man that is to come to the 
house shortly after ; and if he is not of the seer's acquaint- 
ance, yet he gives such a lively description of his stature, 
complexion, habit, etc., that upon his arrival he answers the 
character given him in all respects. 

" If the person so appearing be one of the seer's acquaint- 
ance, he will tell his name, as well as other particulars ; and 
he can tell by his countenance whether he comes in a good or 
bad humor. 

'' I have been seen thus myself by seers of both sexes, at 
some hundred miles' distance ; some that saw me in this man- 
ner had never seen me personally, and it happened according 
to their vision, without any previous design of mine to go to 
these places, my coming there being purely accidental. 

" It is ordinary with them to see houses, gardens, and trees 
in places void of all three ; and this in progress of time uses 
to be accomplished : as at Magshot, in the Isle of Skie, where 



282 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

there were but a few sorry cowhouses, thatched with straw, 
yet in a very few years after, the vision, which appeared often, 
was accomplished, by the building of several good houses on 
the very spot represented by the seers, and by the planting of 
orchards there. 

" To see a spark of fire fall upon one's arm or breast, is a 
forerunner of a dead child to be seen in the arms of those 
persons, of which there are several fresh instances. 

" To see a seat empty at the time of one's sitting in it, is a 
presage of that person's death soon after. 

" When a novice, or one that has lately obtained the second- 
sight, sees a vision in the night-time without doors, and he be 
near a fire, he presently falls into a swoon. 

" Some find themselves as it were in a crowd of people, 
having a corpse which they carry along with them ; and after 
such visions the seers come in sweating, and describe the peo- 
ple that appeared ; if there be any of their acquaintance 
among 'em, they give an account of their names, as also of 
the bearers, but they know nothing concerning the corpse. 

" All those who have the second-sight do not always see 
these visions at once, though they be together at the time. 
But if one who has this faculty, designedly touch his fellow- 
seer at the instant of a vision's appearing, then the second 
sees it as well as the first ; and this is sometimes discerned by 
those that are near them on such occasions." — Martin's 
Description of the Western Islafids, 17 16, 8vo., p. 300, et seq. 

To these particulars innumerable examples might be added, 
all attested by grave and credible authors. But, in despite of 
evidence which neither Bacon, Boyle, nor Johnson were able 
to resist, the Taise/i, with all its visionary properties, seems to 
be now universally abandoned to the use of poetry. The 
exquisitely beautiful poem of Lochiel will at once recur to the 
recollection of every reader. 



APPENDIX. 283 



Note B. 

My sire's tall form might grace the pari 
Of Ferragus or Ascabart. — P. 50. 

These two sons of Anak flourished in romantic fable. The 
first is well known to the admirers of Ariosto, by the name of 
Ferrau. He was an antagonist of Orlando, and was at length 
slain by him in single combat. There is a romance in the 
Auchinleck MS., in which Ferragus is thus described : — 

" On a day come tiding 
Unto Charls the King, 

Al of a doughti knight 
Was comen to Navers. 
Stout he was and fers, 

Vernagu he hight 
Of babiloun the soudan 
Thider him sende gan, 

With King Charls to fight. 
So hard he was to-fond • 
That no dint of brond 

No greud him. aplight. 
He hadde twenti men strengthe 
And forti fet of lengthe, 
Thilke painim hede,^ 
And four feet in the face, 
Y-meten ^ in the place, 

And fifteen in brede.* 
His nose was a fot and more ; 
His brow, as bristles wore ; ^ 

He that it seighe it sede. 
He looked lotheliche. 
And was swart ^ as any piche, 

Of him men might adrede." 

Romatice of Charlemagne^ I. 461-484. 
Auchinleck MS., fol. 265. 

Ascapart or Ascabart makes a very material figure in the 
History of Bevis of Hampton, by whom he was conquered. 

• Found, proved. 2 Had. ^ Measured. * Breadth. * Were. ^ Black. 



284 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

His effigies may be seen guarding one side of a gate at South- 
ampton, while the other is occupied by Sir Bevis himself. 
The dimensions of Ascabart were little inferior to those of 
Ferragus, if the following description be correct : — 

" They metten with a geaunt, 
With a lothelithe semblaunt. 
He was woncierliche strong, 
Rome 1 thretti fote long 
His herd was hot gret and rowe ; 2 
A space of a fot betweene is ^ browe ; 
His clob was, to yeue"* a strok, 
A lite bodi of an oak.^ 

" Beues hadde of him wonder gret, 
And askede him what a het,^ 
And yaf 7 men of his contre 
Were ase meche ase s was he 
* Me name,' a sede,^ ' is Ascopard, 
Graci me sent hiderward, 
For to bring this quene ayen 
And the Beues her of-slen.i^ 
Icham Graci is^^ champioun, 
And was i-driue out of me '2 toun 
Al for that ich was so litc^^ 
Eueri man me wolde smite, 
Ich was so lite and so merugh, '^ 
Eueri man m: clepede dwerugh,'^ 
And now icham in this londe, 
I wax mor ^^ ich understonde. 
And stranger than other tene ; ^'' 
And that schel on us be sene.' " 

Sir Bevis of Hmnpton, i. 2512. 
AucJmtleck MS., fol. 189. 

> Fully. 2 Rough. 3 His. ■* Give. ^ The stem of a little oak-tree. ^ He 
hight, was called. ' If. § Great. ^ He said. 10 siay. » His. 12 My. is l^. 
tie. 14 Lean. '^ Dwarf, le Greater, taller. ^^ Ten. 



APPENDIX. 



•85 



Note C. 

Tn Holy-Rood a Knight he slew. — P. 72. 

This was by no means an uncommon occurrence in the 
court of Scotland ; nay, the presence of the sovereign himself 
scarcely restrained the ferocious and inveterate feuds which 
were the perpetual source of bloodshed among the Scottish 
nobility. The following instance of the murder of Sir Wil- 
liam Stuart of Ochiltree, called The Bloody^ by the celebrated 
Francis, Earl of Bothwell, may be produced among many; 
but, as the offence given in the royal court will hardly bear a 
vernacular translation, I shall leave the story in Johnstone's 
Latin, referring for farther particulars to the naked simplicity 
of Birrell's Diary, 30th July, 1588. 

" Mors improbi Jwjninis non tarn ipsa immerita^ qiiam pes- 
simo exemplo in publicum., foede perpetrata. Guliehnus Stu- 
artus A/kilfrius, Arani frater, nalurd ac moribus, cujus soepius 
mejnini, vulgo propter sitem saiiguinis sanguinarius dictus., a 
Bofkveiio, in Sanche Crucis Regia exardescente irct., mendacii 
probro laces sit us, obsccemun osculu7n liber ius 7'etorqiiebat ; Both- 
velius hanc contu77ieliani tacitus tulit, sed i7ige7itu7n irarum 
mole77i aiii77W C07icepit. Utri7ique postridie Edinbu7gi co7iven- 
tum, totide7n niimero comitibus armatis prcesidii causa, et acriter 
pugnatuin est ; cceteris amicis et clie7itibus metu torpentibus, aut 
vi absterritis, ipse Stuartus fortissime dimicat ; tandem excusso 
gladio a Bothvelio, Scythica fe7'itate t7'a7isfoditur, si7ie cujus- 
qua7n 77iisericordia ; habuit itaque que77i debuit exitum. Dig7ius 
erat Stua7'tus qui pateretur ; Bothvelius qui faceret. Vulgus 
sa7igui7ic77i sa7igui7ie prcedtcabit, et ho7'U7n cruo7'e i7i7iocuorum 
manibus eg7'egie pa}'e7itaium.^^ — Johnstoni Historia Rerum 
Britannicarum, ab anno 1572 ad annum 1628. Amstclodami, 
1655, fol p. 135. 



286 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



Note D. 

Did, sclf-ujiscabbardcd, foreshovj 
The footstep of a secret foe. — P. 76. 

The ancient warriors, whose hope and confidence rested 
chiefly in their blades, were accustomed to deduce omens 
from them, especially from such as were supposed to have 
been fabricated by enchanted skill, of which we have various 
instances in the romances and legends of the time. The 
wonderful sword Skofnung, wielded by the celebrated Hrolf 
Kraka, was of this description. It was deposited in the tomb 
of the monarch at his death, and taken from thence by 
Skeggo, a celebrated pirate, who bestowed it upon his son-in- 
law, Kormak, with the following curious directions: — "'The 
manner of using it will appear strange to you. A small bag 
is attached to it, which take heed not to violate. Let not the 
rays of the sun touch the upper part of the handle, nor 
unsheathe it, unless thou art ready for battle. But when thou 
comest to the place of fight, go aside from the rest, grasp and 
extend the sword, and breathe upon it. Then a small worm 
will creep out of the handle ; lower the handle, that he may 
more easily return into it.' Kormak, after having received 
the sword, returned home to his mother. He show^ed the 
sword, and attempted to draw it, as unnecessarily as ineffec- 
tually, for he could not pluck it out of the sheath. His 
mother, Dalla, exclaimed, ' Do not despise the counsel given 
to thee, my son.' Kormak, however, repeating his efforts, 
pressed down the handle with his feet, and tore off the l)ag, 
when Skofnung emitted a hollow groan; but still he could not 
unsheathe the sword. Kormak then went out with Bcssus, 
whom he had challenged to fight with him, and drew apart at 
the place of combat. He sat down upon the ground, and 
ungirding the sword, which he bore above his vestments, did 



APPENDIX. 287 

not remember to shield the hilt from the rays of the sun. In 
vain he endeavored to draw it, till he placed his foot against 
the hilt ; then the worm issued from it. But Kormak did not 
rightly handle the weapon, in consequence whereof good for- 
tune deserted it. As he unsheathed Skofnung, it emitted a 
hollow murmur." — Bartholini de Causis ContemptcB a Danh 
adhicc Gentilibus Mortis^ Libri Tres. Hof?iice, 1689, 4to., p. 574= 
To the history of this sentient and prescient weapon, I beg 
leave to add, from memory, the following legend, for which I 
cannot produce any better authority. A young nobleman, of 
high hopes and fortune, chanced to lose his way in the town 
which he inhabited, the capital, if I mistake not, of a German 
province. He had accidentally involved himself among the 
narrow and winding streets of a suburb, inhabited by the 
lowest order of the people, and an approaching thunder- 
shower determined him to ask a short refuge in the most 
decent habitation that was near him. He knocked at the 
door, which was opened by a tall man, of a grisly and fero- 
cious aspect, and sordid dress. The stranger was readily 
ushered to a chamber, where swords, scourges, and machines, 
which seemed to be implements of torture, were suspended 
on the wall. One of these swords dropped from its scabbard 
as the nobleman, after a moment's hesitation, crossed the 
threshold. His host immediately stared at him with such a 
marked expression, that the young man could not help 
demanding his name and business, and the meaning of his 
looking at him so fixedly. " I am," answered the man, " the 
public executioner of this city; and the incident you have 
observed is a sure augury that I shall, in discharge of my 
duty, one day cut off your head with the weapon which has 
just now spontaneously unsheathed itself." The nobleman 
lost no time in leaving his place of refuge ; but, engaging in 
some of the plots of the period, was shortly after decapitated 
by that very man and instrument. 



288 ^^HE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



Lord Lovat is said, by the author of the " Letters from Scot- 
land," to have affirmed, that a number of swords that hung up 
in the hall of the mansion-house, leaped of themselves out of 
the scabbard at the instant he was born. The story passed 
current among his clan, but, like that of the story I have just 
quoted, proved an unfortunate omen. — Letters fro7n Scotland, 
vol. il., p. 214. 

Note E. 

T/ic best of Lock Lomond lie dead on her side. — P. 82. 

The Lennox, as the district is called, which encircles the 
lower extremity of Loch Lomond, was peculiarly exposed to 
the incursions of the mountaineers, who inhabited the inac- 
cessible fastnesses at the upper end of the lake, and the 
neighboring district of Loch Katrine. These were often 
marked by circumstances of great ferocity, of which the 
noted conflict of Glen-fruin is a celebrated instance. This 
was a clan-battle, in w^hich the Macgregors, headed by Allas- 
ler Macgregor, chief of the clan, encountered the sept of Col- 
quhouns, commanded by Sir Humphrey Colquhoun of Luss. 
It is on all hands allowed that the action was desperately 
fought, and that the Colquhouns were defeated with great 
slaughter, leaving two hundred of their name dead upon the 
field. But popular tradition has added other horrors to the 
tale. It is said, that Sir Humphrey Colquhoun, who was on 
horseback, escaped to the castle of Benechra, or Banochar, 
and was next day dragged out and murdered by the vic- 
torious Macgregors in cold blood. Buchanan of Auchmar, 
however, speaks of his slaughter as a subsequent event, and 
as perpetrated by the Macfarlanes. Again, it is reported that 
the Macgregors murdered a number of youths, whom report 
of the intended battle had brought to be spectators, and 
whom the Colquhouns, anxious for their safety, had shut up 



APPENDIX. 



289 



in a barn to be out of danger. One account of the Mac- 
gregors denies this circumstance entirely : another ascribes it 
to the savage and bloodthirsty disposition of a single individ- 
ual, the bastard brother of the Laird of Macgregor, who 
amused himself with this second massacre of the innocents, 
in express disobedience to the chief, by whom he was left 
their guardian during the pursuit of the Colquhouns. It is 
added, that Macgregor bitterly lamented this atrocious action, 
and prophesied the ruin which it must bring upon their 
ancient clan. The following account of the conflict, which 
is indeed drawn up by a friend of the Clan-Gregor, is alto- 
gether silent on the murder of the youths. " In the spring of 
the year 1602, there happened great dissensions and troubles 
between the laird of Luss, chief of the Colquhouns, and Alex- 
ander, laird of Macgregor. The original of these quarrels 
proceeded from injuries and provocations mutually given and 
received not long before. Macgregor, however, wanting to 
have them ended in friendly conferences, marched at the 
head of two hundred of his clan to Leven, which borders on 
Luss, his country, with a view of settling matters by the 
mediation of friends : but Luss had no such intentions, and 
projected his measures with a different view ; for he privately 
drew together a body of three hundred horse and five hun- 
dred foot, composed partly of his own clan and their follow- 
ers, and partly of the Buchanans, his neighbors, and resolved 
to cut off Macgregor and his party to a man, in case the issue 
of the conference did not answer his inclination. But mat- 
ters fell otherwise than he expected ; and though Macgregor 
had previous information of his insidious design, yet dissem- 
bling his resentment, he kept the appointment, and parted 
good friends in appearance. 

"No sooner was he gone, than Luss, thinking to surprise 
him and his party in full security, and without any dread or 
apprehension of his treachery, followed with all speed, and 



290 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 



came up with him at a place called Glenfroon. Macgregor, 
upon the alarm, divided his men into two parties, the greatest 
part whereof he commanded himself, and the other he com- 
mitted to the care of his brother John, who, by his orders, led 
them about another way, and attacked the Colquhouns in 
flank. Here it was fought with great bravery on both sides 
for a considerable time ; and, notwithstanding the vast dis- 
proportion of numbers, Macgregor, in the end, obtained an 
absolute victory. So great was the rout, that two hundred 
of the Colquhouns were left dead upon the spot, most of the 
leading men were killed, and a multitude of prisoners taken. 
But what seemed most surprising and incredible in this 
defeat, was, that none of the Macgregors were missing, ex- 
cept John, the laird's brother, and one common fellow, though 
indeed many of them were wounded." — Professor Ross's 
History of the Family of Sictherland, 1631. 

The consequences of the battle of Glen-f ruin was very cala- 
mitous to the family of Macgregor, who had already been 
considered as an unruly clan. The widows of the slain Col- 
quhouns, sixty, it is said, in number, appeared in doleful pio- 
cession before the king at Stirling, each riding upon a white 
palfrey, and bearing in her hand the bloody shirt of her hus- 
band displayed upon a pike. James VI. was so much moved 
by the complaints of this " choir of mourning dames," that he 
let loose his vengeance against the Macgregors, without 
either bounds or moderation. The very name of the clan 
was proscribed, and those by whom it had been borne were 
given up to sword and fire, and absolutely hunted down by 
bloodhounds like wild beasts. Argyle and the Campbells on 
the one hand, Montrose with the Grahames and Buchanans, 
on the other, are said to have been the chief instruments in 
suppressing this devoted clan. The Laird of Macgregor sur- 
rendered to the former, on condition that he would take him 
out of Scottish ground. But, to use Birrell's expression, he 



APPENDIX. 291 

kept " a Ilighlanclman's promise ; " and, although he fulfilled 
his word to the letter, by carrying him as far as Berwick, lie 
afterwards brought him back to Edinburgh, where he was 
executed with eighteen of his clan (Birrel's Diary ^ 2d Octo- 
ber, 1603.) The clan Gregor being thus driven to utter 
iespair, seemed to have renounced the laws from the benefit 
of which they were excluded, and their depredations pro- 
duced new acts of council, confirming the severity of their 
proscription, which had only the effect of rendering them 
stiU more united and desperate. It is a most extraordinary 
proof of the ardent and invincible spirit of clanship, that, 
notwithstanding the repeated proscriptions providently or- 
dained by the legislature, "for the timcous preve7iting the 
disorders and oppression that may fall out by the said name 
and clan of Macgregors and their followers," they were in 
i7i5*and 1745, a potent clan, and continue to subsist as a 
distinct and numerous race. 

Note F. 
tuid -ivJiile the Fiery Cross glanced^ like a meteor^ rouitd. — P. 105 

When a chieftain designed to summon his clan, upon any 
sudden or important emergency, he slew a goat, and making 
a cross of any light wood, seared its extremities in the fire, 
and extinguished them in the blood of the animal. This was 
called the Fiay Cross, also Crean Tarigh, or the Cross of 
Shame, because disobedience to what the symbol implied, 
inferred infamy. It was delivered to a swift and trusty mes- 
senger, who ran full speed with it to the next hamlet, where 
he presented it to the principal person, with a single word, 
implying the place of rendezvous. He who received the 
symbol was bound to send it forward with equal dispatcli to 
the next village; and thus it passed with incredible celerity 
through all the district which owed allegiance to the chie^ 



292 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



and also among his allies and neighbors, if the da-oger was 
common to them. At sight of the Fiery Cross, every man, 
from sixteen years old to sixty, capable of bearing arms, was 
obliged instantly to repair, in his best arms and accoutre- 
ments, to the place of rendezvous. He who failed to appear 
suffered the extremities of fire and sword, wliich were em- 
blematically denounced to the disobedient by the bloody and 
burnt marks upon this warlike signal. During the civil war 
of 1745-6, the Fiery Cross often made its circuit ; and upon 
one occasion it passed through the whole district of Breadal- 
bane, a tract of thirty-two miles, in three hours. The late 
Alexander Stewart, Esq., of Invernahyle, described to me his 
having sent round the Fiery Cross through the district of 
Appine, during the same commotion. The coast was threat- 
ened by a descent from two English frigates, and the flower 
of the young men were with the army of Prince Charles 
Edward, then in England; yet the summons was so effectual, 
that even old age and childhood obeyed it ; and a force was 
collected in a few hours, so numerous and so enthusiastic, 
that all attempt at the intended diversion upon the country of 
the absent warriors was in prudence abandoned, as desperate. 

This practice, like some others, is common to the High- 
landers with the ancient Scandinavians, as will appear by the 
following extract from Olaus Magnus • — 

" When the enemy is upon the sea-coast, or within the lim- 
its of northern kingdomes, then presently, by the command of 
die principal governours, with the counsel and consent of the 
old soldiers, who are notably skilled in such like business, a 
staff of three hands length, in the common sight of them all, 
is carried, by the speedy running of some active young man, 
unto that village or city, with this command, — that on the 3. 
4. or 8. day, one, t^vo, or three, or else every man in par- 
ticular, from 15 years old, shall come with his arms, and 
expenses for ten or twenty days, upon pain that his or their 



APPENDIX. 293 



houses shicll be burnt (which is intimated by the burning of 
the staff), or else the master to be hanged (which is signified 
by the cord tied to it), to appear speedily on such a bank, or 
iield, or valley, to hear the cause he is called, and to hear 
orders trom the said provincial governours vv'hat he shall do. 
Wherefore that messenger, swifter than any post or waggon, 
having done his commission, comes slowly back again, bring- 
ing a token with him that he hath done all legally , and every 
moment one or another runs to ever/ village, and tells those 
places what they must do." . . . "The messengers, there- 
fore, of the footmen, that are to give warning to the people to 
meet for the battail, run fiercely and swiftly , for no snow^, no 
rain, nor heat can stop them, nor night hold them ; but they 
will soon run the race they undertake. The first messenger 
tells it to the next village, and that to the next , and so the 
hubbub runs all over till they all know it in that stift or ter- 
ritory, where, when and wherefore they must meet.'* — Olaus 
Magnus' History of the Goths ^ englishtd by J. S. Lond. 1658. 
book iv. chap. 3, 4. 

Note G. 

That monk, of savage form and face. — P 107. 

The state of religion in the middle ages afforded consider- 
able facilities for those whose mode of life excluded them 
from regular worship, to secure, nevertheless, the ghostly 
assistance of confessors, perfectly willing to adapt the nature 
of their doctrine to the necessities and peculiar circumstances 
of their flock. Robin Hood, it is well known, had his cele- 
brated domestic chaplain, Friar Tuck And that same curtal 
friar was probably matched in manners and appearance by 
ihe ghostly fathers of the Tynedale robbers, who are thus 
described in an excommunication fulminated against their 
patrons by Richard Fox, Bishop of Durham, tempore Henrici 
VII. "We have further understood, tliat there are many 



294 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



chaplains in the said territories of Tynedale and Redesdale, 
who are pubhc and open maintainers of concubinage, irre- 
gular, suspended, excommunicated, and interdicted persons, 
and withal so utterly ignorant of letters, that it has been 
found by those who objected this to them, that there were 
some who, having celebrated mass for ten years, were still 
unable to read the sacramental service. We have also under- 
stood there are persons among them who, although not 
ordained, do take upon them the offices of priesthood ; and, 
in contempt of God, celebrate the divine and sacred rites, 
and administer the sacraments, not only in sacred and dedi- 
cated places, but in those which are prophane and interdicted, 
and most wretchedly ruinous ; they themselves being attired 
in ragged, torn, and most filthy vestments, altogether unfit to 
be used in divine, or even in temporal offices. The which 
said chaplains do administer sacraments and sacramental 
rites to the aforesaid manifest and infamous thieves, robbers, 
depredators, receivers of stolen goods, and plunderers, and 
that without restitution, or intention to restore, as evinced by 
the act ; and do also openly admit them to the rites of eccle- 
siastical sepulchre, without exacting security for restitution, 
although they are prohibited from doing so by the sacred 
canons, as well as by the institutes of the saints and fathers. 
All which infers the heavy peril of their own souls, and is a 
pernicious example to the other believers in Christ, as well as 
no slight, but an aggravated injury, to the numbers despoiled 
and plundered of their goods, gear, herds, and chattels."^ 

To this lively and picturesque description of the confessors 
and churchmen of predatory tribes, there may be added some 
curious particulars respecting the priests attached to the 

^ The Monition against the Robbers of Tynedale and Redesdale, with which I 
was favored by my friend, Mr, Surtees of Mainsforth, may be found in the original 
Latin, in the Appendix to the Introduction to the " Border Minstrelsy," No. VII. 
vol. i., p. 274 of the Edinburgh edition. 12 vols. 



APPENDIX. 295 

several septs of native Irish, during the reign of Queen Ehza- 
beth. These friars had indeed to plead, that the incursions, 
which they not only pardoned, but even encouraged, were 
made upon those hostile to them, as well in religion as from 
national antipathy ; but by Protestant writers they are uni- 
formly alleged to be the chief instruments of Irish insurrec- 
tion, the very well-spring of all rebellion towards the English 
government. Lithgow, the Scottish traveller, declares the 
Irish wood-kerne, or predatory tribes, to be but the hounds of 
their hunting-priest, who directed their incursions by their 
pleasure, partly for sustenance, partly to gratify animosity, 
partly to foment general division, and always for the better 
security and easier domination of the friars.^ Derrick, the 
liveliness and minuteness of whose descriptions may fre- 
quently apologize for his doggerel verses, after describing an 
Irish feast, and the encouragement given by the songs of the 
bards to its termination in an incursion upon the parts of 
the country more immediately under the dominion of the 
English, records the no less powerful arguments used by the 
friar to excite their animosity : — 

" And more t'augment the flame, 

and rancour of their harte, 
The frier, of his counsells vile, 

to rebelles doth imparte 
Affirming that it is 

an almose deede to God, 
To make the English subjects taste 

the Irish rebells' rodde. 
To spoile, to kill, to burne, 

this frier's counsell is ; 
And for the doing of the same, 

he warrantes heavenlie blisse. 
He telles a holie tale ; 

the white he tournes to blacke ; 
And through the pardons in his male, 

He workes a knavishe knacke." 

' " Lithgow's Travels," first edition, p. 431. 



296 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

The wreckful invasion of a part of the English pale is then 
described with some spirit ; the burning of houses, driving off 
cattle, and all pertaining to such predatory inroads, are illus- 
trated by a rude cut. The defeat of the Irish by a party of 
English soldiers from the next garrison is then commemo- 
rated, and in like manner adorned with an engraving, in 
which the friar is exhibited mourning over the slain chieftain ; 
or, as the rubric expresses it, 

•' The frier then, that treacherous knave ; with ough ough-hone lament, 
To see his cousin Devill's-son to have so foul event." 

The matter is handled at great length in the text, of which 
the following verses are more than a sufficient sample : — 

" The frier seying this, 

lamentes that lucklesse parte, 
And curseth to the pitte of hell 

the death man's sturdie harte 
Yet for to quight them with 

The frier taketh paine, 
For all the synnes that ere he did 

remission to obtaine. 
And therefore serves his booke, 

the candell and the bell ; 
But thinke you that such apishe toies 

bring damned souls from hell ? 
It 'longs not to my parte 

infernall things to knowe ; 
But I beleve till later dale, 

thei rise not from belowe. 
Yet hope that friers give 

to this rebellious rout, 
If that their souls should chaunce in hell, 

To bring them quicklie out, 
Doeth make them lead suche lives, 

as neither God nor man, 
Without revenge for their desartes, 

permitte or suffer can. 
Thus friers are the cause, 

the fountain, and the spring. 
Of hurleburles in this lande, 

of eche unhappie thing. 



APPENDIX. 297 



Thei cause them to rebelle 

against their soveraigne quene, 
And through rebellion often tymes, 

their lives doe vanishe clene. 
So as by friers meanes, 

in whom all follie swimme, 
The Irishe karne doe often lose 

the life, with hedde and limme." 

As the Irish tribes, and those of the Scottish Highlanders, 
are much more intimately allied by language, manners, dress, 
and customs than the antiquaries of either country have been 
willing to admit, I flatter myself I have here produced a 
strong warrant for the character sketched in the text. The 
following picture, though of a different kind, serves to estab- 
lish the existence of ascetic religionists, to a comparatively 
late period, in the Highlands and Western Isles. There is a 
great deal of simplicity in the description, for which, as for 
much similar information, I am obliged to Dr. John Martin, 
who visited the Hebrides at the suggestion of Sir Robert 
Sibbald, a Scottish antiquarian of eminence, and early in the 
eighteenth century published a description of them, which 
procured him admission into the Royal Society, He died in 
London about 17 19. His work is a strange mixture of learn- 
ing, observation, and gross credulity- 

"I remember," says this author, "I have seen an old lay- 
capuchin here (in the Island of Benbecula), called in their 
language Brahir-Bocht^ that is, Poor Brother ; which is liter- 
ally true ; for he answers this character, having nothing but 
what is given him : he holds himself fully satisfied with food 
and rayment, and lives in as great simplicity as any of his 
order : his diet is very mean, and he drinks only fair water; 

1 This curious picture of Ireland was inserted by the author in the republication 
of Somers' Tracts, vol. i., in which the plates have been also inserted, from the only 
vmpressions known to exist, belonging to the copy in the Advocates' Library. See 
Somers' Tracts, vol. i., pp. 591, 594. 



ygS THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

his habit i.- no less mortifying than that of his brethren else- 
where : he wears a short coat, which comes no farther than 
his middle, with narrow sleeves like a waistcoat : he wears a 
plad above it, girt about the middle, which reaches to his 
Knee : the plad is fastened on his breast with a wooden pin, 
his neck bare, and his feet often so too ; he wears a hat for 
ornament, and the string about it is a bit of a fisher's line, 
made of horse-hair. This plad he wears instead of a gown 
worn by those of his order in other countries. I told him he 
wanted the flaxen girdle that men of his order usually wear : 
he answered me, that he wore a leathern one, which was the 
same thing. U^Don the matter, if he is spoke to when at 
meat, he answers again ; which is contrary to the custom of 
his order. This poor man frequently diverts himself with 
angling of trouts ; he lies upon straw, and has no bell (as 
others have) to call him to his devotions, but only his con- 
science, as he told me." — Martin's Description of the West- 
ern ITig/i lands, p. 82. 

Note H. 

Sou7ids. too, Jiad come in midnigJit blast 

Of cJiarging steeds, careering fast 

Along Bentiarrow's stiingly side, 

WJiere mortal /wrsema?i ne^er migJit ride. — P. 114. 

A PRESAGE of the kind alluded to in the text, is still be- 
lieved to announce death to the ancient Highland family of 
M'Lean of Lochbuy. The spirit of an ancestor slain in bat- 
tle is heard to gallop along a stony bank, and then to ride 
thrice around the family residence, ringing his fairy bridle, 
and thus intimating the approaching calamity. How easily 
the eye as well as the ear may be deceived upon such occa- 
sions, is evident from the stories of armies in the air, and 
other spectral phenomena, with which history abounds. Such 



APPENDIX. 299 

an apparition is said to have been witnessed upon the side of 
Southfell mountain, between Penrith and Keswick, upon the 
23d June, 1744, by two persons, William Lancaster of Blake- 
hills, and Daniel Stricket his servant, whose attestation to the 
fact, with a full account of the apparition, dated the 21st 
July, 1745, is printed In Clarke's "Survey of the Lakes.'' 
The apparition consisted of several troops of horse moving 
in regular order, with a steady rapid motion, making a curved 
sweep around the fell, and seeming to the spectators to dis- 
appear over the ridge of the mountain. Many persons wit- 
nessed this phenomenon, and observed the last, or last but 
one, of the supposed troop, occasionally leave his rank, and 
pass at a gallop to the front, wher: he resumed tho same 
steady pace. This curious appearance, making the necessary 
allowance for imagination, may be perhaps sufficiently ac- 
counted for by optical deception. — Survey of the Lakes, 
p. 25. 

Supernatural intimations of approaching fate are not, I 
believe, confined to Highland families. Howel mentions 
having seen, at a lapidary's, in 1632, a monumental stone, 
prepared for four persons of the name of Oxenham; before 
the death of each of whom the inscription stated a white bird 
to have appeared and fluttered around the bed while the 
patient was in the last agony {Familiar Letters, edit. 1726, 
247.) Glanville mentions one family, the members of which 
received this solemn sign by music, thfe sound of which floated 
from the family residence, and seemed to die in a neighbor- 
ing wood ; another, that of Captain Wood, of Bampton, to 
whom the signal was given by knocking. But the most 
remarkable instance of the kind occurs in the MS. Memoirs 
of Lady Fanshaw, so exemplary for her conjugal affection. 
Her husband. Sir Richard, and she, chanced, during their 
abode in Ireland, to visit a friend, the head of a sept, who 
resided in his ancient baronial castle, surrounded with a 



300 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 

moat. At midnight she was awakened by a ghastly and 
supernatural scream, and, looking out of bed, beheld, by the 
moonlight, a female face and part of the form, hovering at the 
window. The distance from the ground, as well as the cir- 
cumstance of the moat, excluded the possibility that what she 
beheld was or this world. The face was that of a young and 
rather handsome woman, but pale ; and the hair, which was 
reddish, was loose and dishevelled. The dress, which Lady 
Fanshaw's terror did not prevent her remarking accurately, 
was that of the ancient Irish. This apparition continued to 
exhibit itself for some time, and then vanished with two 
shrieks similar to that which had first excited Lady Fan^ 
shaw's attention. In the morning, with infinite terror, she 
communicated to her host what she had witnessed, and found 
him prepared not only to credit but to account for the appari- 
tion. "A near relation of my family," said he, "expired last 
night in this castle. We disguised our certain expectation of 
the event from you, lest it should throw a cloud over the 
cheerful reception which was due you. Now, before such an 
event happens in this family and castle, the female spectre 
whom you have seen always is visible. She is believed to be 
the sjDirit of a woman of inferior rank, whom one of my ances- 
tors degraded himself by marrying and whom afterwards, to 
expiate the dishonor done his family he caused to be drowned 
in the castle moat." 

Note I. 

The Taghairm calV d; bytv/ii'c/i, afar, 

Our sires foresaxv the events of zvar. — P. 14S. 

The Highlanders, like all rude people, had various super- 
rtitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most 
noted was the Taghairfn, mentioned in the text. A person 
was wrapped up ii: a skin of a newly slain bullock, and 



APPENDIX. 30 ] 



deposited beside a waterfall, or at the bottom of a precipice, 
or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situation, where 
the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of 
horror. In this situation he revolved in his mind the ques- 
tion proposed : and whatever was impressed upon him by his 
exalted imagination, passed for the inspiration of the disem- 
bodied spirits, who haunt the desolate recesses. In some of 
these Hebrides, they attribute the same oracular power to a 
large black stone by the sea-shore, which they approached 
with certain solemnities, and considered the first fancy which 
came into their own minds, after they did so, to be the un- 
doubted dictate of the tutelar deity of the stone, and, as such, 
to be, if possible, punctually complied with. Martin has 
recorded the following curious modes of Highland augury, in 
which the Taghairm, and its effects upon the person who was 
subjected to it, may serve to illustrate the text. 

"It was an ordinary thing among the over-curious to con- 
sult an invisible oracle, concerning the fate of families and 
battles, etc. This w^as performed three different w^ays : the 
first was by a company of men, one of whom, being detached 
by lot, was afterwards carried to a river, which was the boun- 
dary between two villages ; four of the company laid hold on 
him, and, having shut his eyes, they took him by the legs and 
arms, and then, tossing him to and again, struck his hips 
with force against the bank. One of them cried out. What is 
it you have got here ? another answers, A log of birch-wood. 
The other cries again. Let his invisible friends appear from 
all quarters, and let them relieve him by giving an answer to 
our present demands : and in a few minutes after, a number 
of little creatures came from the sea, w^ho answered the ques- 
tion, and disappeared suddenh'o The man was then set at 
liberty, and they all returned home, to take their measures 
according to the prediction of their false prophets \ but the 
poor deluded fools were abused, for their answer was stiB 



302 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

ambiguous. This was always practised in thti night, and may 
literally be called the works of darkness. 

" I had an account from the most intelligent and judicious 
men in the Isle of Skie, that about sixty-two years ago, ihe 
oracle was "thus consulted only once, and that was in the 
parish of Kilmartin, on the east side, by a wicked ana mis- 
chievous race of people, who are now extinguished, both root 
and branch. 

"The second way of consulting the oracle was by a party 
of men, who first retired to solitary places, remote from any 
house, and there they singled out one of their number, and 
wrapt him in a big cow's hide, which they folded about him ; 
his whole body was covered with it, except his head, and so 
left in this postu^^e all night, until his invisible friends relieved 
him, by giving i proper answer to the question in hand ; 
which he received, as he fancied, from several persons thai 
he found about him all that time. His consorts returned to 
him at the break of day, and then he communicated his news 
to them ; which often proved fatal to those concerned in such 
unwarrantable inquiries. 

" There was a third way of consulting, which was a confir- 
mation of the second above mentioned. The same company 
who put the man into the hide, took a live cat, and put him 
on a spit ; one of the number was employed to turn the spit, 
and one of his consorts inquired of him. What are you doing ? 
he answered, I roast this cat, until his friends answer the 
question ; which must be the same that was proposed by the 
man shut up in the hide. And afterwards, a very big cat^ 
comes, attended by a number of lesser cats, desiring to 
relieve the cat turned upon the spit, and then answers the 
question. If this answer proved the same that was given to 

1 The reader may have met with the story of the " King of the Cats," in Lord 
Littleton's Letters. It is well known in the Highlands as a nursery tale. 



APPENDIX. 303 



the man in the hide, then it was taken as a confirmation of 
the other, which, in this case, was believed infaUible. 

*' Mr. Alexander Cooper, present minister of North- Vist; 
told me that one John Erach, in the Isle of Lewis, assured 
him it was his fate to have been led by his curiosity with 
some who consulted this oracle, and that he was a night 
within the hide, as above mentioned ; during which time he 
felt and heard such terrible things, that he could not express 
them ; tlie impression it made on him was such as could 
never go off, and he said, for a thousand worlds he would 
never again be concerned in the like performance, for this 
had disordered him to a high degree. He confessed it ingen- 
uously, and with an air of great remorse, and seemed to be 
penitent under a just sense of so great a crime : he declared 
this about five years since, and is still living in the Lewis for 
anything I know." — Description of the Western Isles, p. no. 
See also Pennant's Scottish Tour, vol. ii., p. 361. 

Note K. 

Alice Brafid. — P. 159. 

This little fairy tale is founded upon a very curious Danish 
ballad, which occurs in the Kcei7ipe Viser, a collection of heroic 
songs, first published in 1591, and reprinted in 1695, in- 
scribed by Anders Sofrensen, the collector and editor to 
Sophia, Queen of Denmark. I have been favored with a 
literal translation of the original, by my learned friend Mn 
Robert Jamieson, whose deep knowledge of Scandinavian 
antiquities will, I hope, one day be displayed in illustration 
of the history of Scottish Ballad and Song, for which no 
man possesses more ample materials. The story will remind 
the readers of the Border Minstrelsy of the tale of Young 
Tamlane. But this is only a solitary and not very marked 
instance of coincidence, whereas several of the other ballads 



304 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

in the same collection find exact counterparts in the Kcempe 
Vis^r. Which may have been the originals, will be a question 
for future antiquaries. Mr. Jamieson, to secure the power of 
literal translation, has adopted the old Scottish idiom, which 
approaches so near to that of the Danish, as almost to give 
word for word, as well as line for line, and indeed in many 
verses the orthography alone is altered. As Wester Haf^ 
mentioned in the first stanzas of the ballad, means the West 
Sea, in opposition to the Baltic, or East Sea, Mr. Jamieson 
inclines to be of opinion, that the scene of the disenchant- 
ment is laid in one of the Orkney or Hebride Islands. To 
each verse in the original is added a burden, having a kind 
of meaning of its own, but not applicable, at least not uni- 
formly applicable, to the sense of the stanza to which it is 
subjoined ; this is very common, both in Danish and Scottish 
song. 

THE ELFIN GRAY. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH K^MPE VISER, PAGE I43, AND FIRST 
PUBLISHED IN 159I. 

Der ligger en void i Vester Haj., 

Der agter en bonde at bygg^ . 
Hand f'drer did haade hog og hund, 

Og agter der otn vinteren at ligg}. 
(De vilde diur og diurene udi skorven.) 

I. 

There liggs a wold in Wester Haf, 

There a husbande means to bigg, 
And thither he carries baith hawk and hound, 

There meaning the winter to ligg. 
( The wild deer and daes V the shaw otd.) 



He talcs wi' him baith hound and cock, 
The langer he means to stay, 

The wild deer in the shaws that are, 
May sairly rue the day. 

( The wild deer, etc.) 



APPENDIX. 305 



III. 
He's hew'd the beech, and he's fell'd the aik, 

Sae has he the poplar gray ; 
And grim in mood was the grewsome elf, 

That be sae bald he may. 



He hew'd him kipples, he hew'd him bawks, 

Wi' mickle moil and haste ; 
Syne speer'd the Elf i' the knock that bade 

*' Wha's hacking here sae fast ? " 



Syne up and spak the weiest Elf, 
Crean'd as an immert sma : 

" It's here is come a Christian man ; — 
I'll liey him or he ga." 



It's up syne started the firsten Elf, 
And glowr'd about sae grim : 

" It's we'll awa to the husbande's house. 
And hald a court on him. 



" Here hews he down bai h skugg and shaw. 
And works us skaith and scorn : 

His huswife he sail gie to me; — 
They's rue the day they were born ! 



The Elfen a' i' the knock that were, 

Gaed dancing in a string : 
They nighed near the husband's house? 

Sae lang their tails did hing. 



The hound he yowls i' the yard. 
The herd toots in his horn ^ 



3o6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 

The earn scraighs, and the cock craws, 
As the husbande has gi'en him his corn.i 



The Elfen were five score and seven, 

Sai laidly and sae grim ; 
And they the husband's guests maun be, 

To eat and drink wi' him. 



The husbande, out o' Villenshaw 
At his winnock the Elves can see % 

" Help me, now, Jesu, Mary's son; 
Thir Elves they mint at me! " 

XII. 

In every nook a cross he coost, 
In his chalmer maist ava ; 

The Elfen a' were fley'd thereat, 
And flew to the wild-wood shaw. 



And some flew east, and some flew west, 
And some to the norwart flew ; 

And some they flew to the deep dale down, 
There still they are I trow.2 

XIV. 

If was then the weist Elf, 

In at the door braids he ; 
Agast was the husbande, for that Elf 

For cross nor sign wad flee. 

* This singular quatrain stands thus in the original : — 
" Hunden hand gior i gaarden ; 

Hiorden tude i sit horn ; 
CErnen skriger, og hanen galer, 
Som bonden hafde gif\ et sit korn. 
' In the Danish : — 

" Somme floye oster, og somme floye vester, 
Nogle floye nor paa , 
Nogle floye ned i dybene dale, 
Jeg trouer de ere der endnu." 



APPENDIX. 



307 



XV. 

The huswife she was a canny wife, 

She set the Elf at the board ; 
She set before him baith ale and meat 
Wi' mony a weel-waled word. 

XVI. 

" Hear thou, Gudeman o- Villenshaw, 

What now I say to thee ; 
Wha bade thee bigg within our bounds, 

Without the leave o' me ? 

XVII. 

" But, an thou in our bounds will bigg, 
And bide as well as may be, 

Then thou thy dearest huswife maun 
To me for a lemman gie." 

XVIII. 

Up spak the luckless husbande then, 

As God the grace him gae; 
" Eline she is to me sae dear, 

Her thou may nae-gate hae." 

XIX. 

Till the Elf he answered as he couth . 

" Lat but my huswife be. 
And take whate'er, o' gude or gear 

Is mine, awa wi' thee." 

XX. 

" Thine I'll thy Eline tak and thee, 

Aneath my feet to tread ; 
And hide thy goud and white monie 

Aneath my dwelling stead." 

XXI. 

The husbande and his househald a' 

In sary rede they join : 
"■ Far better that she be now forfairn. 

Nor that we a' should tyne." 



^o8 THE LADV OF THE LAKE. 



XXII. 

Up, will of rede, ths husbande stood, 

Wi' heart fu' sad and sair ; 
And he has gien his huswife Eline 

Wi' the young Elfe to / ire. 

XXIII. 

Then blyth grew he, and sprang about 

He took her in his arm ; 
The rud it left her comely cheek ; 

Her heart was clem'd wi' harm. 

XXIV. 

A waef u' woman then she was ane, 
And the moody tears loot fa' ; 

God rew on me, unseely wife. 
How hard a weird I fa ! 

XXV. 

" My fay 1 plight to the fairest wight 
That man on mold mat see ; — 

Maun I now mell wi' a laidly El, 
His hght lemman to be ! " 

XXVI. 

He minted ance — he minted twice, 
Wae wax'd her heart that syth : 

Syne the laidliest fiend he grew that e'er 
To mortal ee did kyth. 

XXVII. 

When he the thirden time can mint 

To Mary's son she pray'd, 
And the laidly Elf was clean awa. 

And a fair knight in his stead. 

XXVIII. 

This fell under a linden green. 
That again his shape he found •, 

wae and care was the word nae mai!r_; 
A' were sae glad that stound. 

XXIX. 

" dearest Eline, hear thou this, 
And thou my wife sail be, 



APPENDIX. 



309 



And a' the goud in merry England 
Sae freely I'll gi'e thee ! 

XXX. 

" Whan I was but a little wee bairn, 

My mither died me fra ; 
My stepmither sent me awa fra her ; 

I turn'd till an Elfin Gray. 

XXXI. 

" To thy husbande I a gift will gie, 
Wi' mickle state and gear, 

As mends for Eline his huswife; — 
Thou's be my heartis dear." — 



" Thou nobil knyght, we thank now God 
That has freed us frae skaith ; 

Sae wed thou thee a maiden free, 
And joy attend ye baith ! 

XXXIII. 

" Sin I to thee nae maik can be 

My dochter may be thine ; 
Ar-d thy gvid will right to fulfill, 

Lat this be our propine." — 

XXXIV. 

" I thank thee, Eline, thou wise woman \ 
My praise thy worth sail ha'e ; 

And thy love gin I fail to win, 
Thou here at hame sail stay." 

XXXV. 

The husbande biggit now on his 6e, 
And nane ane wrought him wrang; 

His dochter wore crown in Engelaiid, 
And happy lived and lang. 

XXXVI. 

Now Eline, the husbande's huswife has 

Cour'd a' her grief and harms 
She's mither to a noble queen 

That sleeps in a kingis arms. 



310 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 



GLOSSARY TO ''THE ELFIN GRAY." 



STANZA I. 

IVo/d, A wood ; woody fastness, 

Husbande, from the Danish hos, with, 
and bonde, a villain, or bondsman, 
who was a cultivator of the ground, 
and could not quit the estate to which 
he was attached, without the permis- 
sion of his lord. This is the sense of 
the word in the old Scottish records. 
In the Scottish " Burghe Laws," 
translated fum the Reg. Majcst. 
(Auchinleck MS. in the Adv. Lib.), 
it is used indiscriminately with the 
Danish and Swedish bonde. 

Bigg, build. 

Ligg, lie. 

Dues, does. 

STANZA II. 

Shaw, wood. 
Sairly, sorely. 

STANZA III. 

Aik, oak. 

Grewsome, terrible. 
Bald, bold. 

STANZA IV. 

Kipples (couples), beams joined at the 
top, for supporting a roof, in building. 
Bawks, balks ; cross beams. 
Moil, laborious industry. 
Speer'd, asked. 
Knock, hillock. 

STANZA V. 

Weiest, smallest. 

Creaii'd, shrunk, diminished ; from the 
Gaelic, crian, very small. 

Immert, emmet ; ant. 

Christian, used in the Danish ballads, 
etc., in contrad::^tinction to demoniac, 
as it is in England in contradistinc- 
tion to brute; in which sense, a per- 



son of the lower class in EnglanA^ 
would call a Jew or a Tiirk^ a ChriS' 
tian. 
Fley, frighten. 

STANZA VI. 

Glowr''d, stared. 
Hald, hold. 

STANZA VII. 

Sktigg, shade. 
Skaith, harm. 

STANZA VIII. 

Nighed, approached. 

STANZA IX. 

Yowls, howls. 

Toots. — In the Danish ttide is applied 

both to the howling of a dog, and the 

sound of a horn. 
Scraiche, screams. 

STANZA X. 

Laidly, loathly ; disgustingly iigly. 
Grim, fierce. 

STANZA XI. 
Winnock, window. 
Mint, aim at. 

STANZA XII 

Coost cast. 
Chalmer, chamber. 
Maist, most. 
Ava, of all. 

STANZA XIII. 

Nortvart, northward. 
Trow, believe. 

STANZA XIV. 

Braids, strides quickly forward. 
Wad, would. 

STANZA XV. 

Canny, adroit. 
Mony, many. 
V/eel-waled, well chosen. 



APPENDIX. 



311 



STANZA XVII. 

An, if. 
Bide, abide. 
Levi7tiati, mistress. 

STANZA XVIII. 

Nae-gate, nowise. 

STANZA XIX. 

Couth, could, knew how to. 
Lat be, let alone. 
Glides, goods ; property. 

STANZA XX. 

Afzeath, beneath. 
Dwallhig-stead, dwelling-place. 

STANZA XXI. 

Sary, sorrowful. 
Rede, counsel ; consultation. 
Forfairn, forlorn ; lost, gone. 
Tyne (verb neuter), be lost ; perish. 

STANZA XXII. 

Will of rede, bewildered in thought ; in 
the Danish original, ^^vildraadage ;" 
Lat. •' i)tops consilii ; " Gr. anopov. 
This expression is left among the 
desiderata in the Glossary to Rit- 
son's Romances, and has never been 
explained. It is obsolete in the Dan- 
ish as well as in English. 

Fare, go. 

STANZA XXIII. 

Riid, red of the cheek. 

"Zlem^d, in the Danish, klemt (which, in 
the north of England, is still in use, 
as the word startled is with us); 
brought to a dying state. It is used 
by our old comedians. 

Harm, grief; as in the original, and in 
the old Teutonic, English, and Scot- 
tish poetry. 

STANZA XXIV. 

Wacfn, woful. 

Moody, strongly and wilfully passionate. 

Be-ju, take ruth ; pity. 



Unseely, unhappy ; unblest. 

Weird, fate. 

Fa{\i\. Dan. and Swed.) take; get; 
acquire; procure; have for my lot. 
This Gothic verb answers, in it? 
direct and secondary significations, 
exactly to the Latin capio ; and Allan 
Ramsay was right in his definition of 
it. It is quite a different word from 
fa', an abbreviation of fall, or befall; 
and is the principal root in fengan, 
io fang, take, or lay hold )f. 

STANZA XXV. 

Fay, faith. 

Mold, m.ould ; earth. 

Mat, mote ; might. 

Maun, must. 

Afell, mix. 

El, an elf. This term in the Welsh, 
signifies what has in itself the power 
of motion ; a moving principle ; an 
intellige7ice ; a spirit ; an angel. In 
the Hebrew it bears the same import. 

STANZA XXVI. 

Minted, attempted ; meant ; showed a 
mind, or intention to. The original 
is : — 

" Hande mindte hende forst — og an- 
den gang ; — 

Hun giordis i hiortet sa vee : 

End blef liand den lediste deifvel 

Mand kunde med oyen see. 

Der hand vilde minde den tredie 
gang," etc. 

Syth, tide ; time. 

Kyth, appear. 

STANZA XXVIII. 

Stound, hour ; time ; moment. 

STANZA XXIX. 

Merry (old Teutonic mere), famous; 
renowned, answering in its etymo- 
logical meaning, exactly to the Latin 
Mactus. Hence merry-men, as the 



312 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



address of a chief to his followers ; 
meaning, not men of mirth, but of 
renown. The term* is found in its 
original sense in the Gaelic tnara^ 
and the Welsh mawr, great ; and in 
the oldest Teutonic Romances, 7nar, 
mer, and tnere, have sometimes the 
same signification. 

STANZA XXXI. 

Mends, amends ; recompense. 



STANZA XXXIII. 

Maik, match ; peer ; equal. 
Propine, pledge ; gift. 

STANZA XXXV. 

be, an island of the second magnitude; 
an island of the first magnitude being 
called a land, and one of the third 
magnitude a hobn. 

STANZA XXXVI. 

Coiir'd, recovered. 



THE GHAIST'S WARNING. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE DANISH K^MPE VISEH, PAGE 72I. 

[By the permission of Mr. Jamieson, this ballad is added from the same curious 
collection. It contains some passages of great pathos.] 



Svend Dyring hand rider iig op under ol, 

( Vare jeg selver ung) 
Der fcEste hand sig saa ven en vide. 

{Mig lyster tidi lunden at ride,) etc. 



Child Dyring has ridden him up under oe,^ 

{And O gin I ivere young .') 
There wedded he him sae fair ^ a may. 

(/' the greenwood it lists me to ride.) 



Thegither they lived for seven lang year, 

{A7id O, etc.) 
And they seven bairns hae gotten in fere. 

(/' the greenwood, etc. ) 

J " Under oe. — The original expression has been preserved here and elsewhere, 
because no other could be found to supply its place. There is just as much mean- 
ing in it in the translation as in the original : but it is a standard Danish ballad 
phrase ; and as such, it is hoped, will be allowed to pass. 

- "^^ Fair." — The Danish and Swedish ven, va7t, or venne, and the Gaelic ban, 
in the oblique cases bhdn {vdn), is the origin of the Scottish bo7iny, which has so 
much puzzled all the etymologists. 



APPENDIX. 



313 



Sae Death's come there intill that stead, 
And that winsome lily flower is dead. 

That swain he has ridden him up under 6e, 
And syne he has married anither may. 

He's married a may, and he's fessen her hame ; 
But she was a grim and laidly dame. 

When into the castell court drave she, 

The seven bairns stood wi' the tear in their ee. 

The bairns they stood wi' dule and doubt : — 
She up wi' her foot, and she kicked them out. 

Nor ale nor meed to the bairnies she gave: 
" But hunger and hate frae me ye's have." 

She took frae them the bowster blae, 
And said, " Ye sail ligg i' the bare strae! " 

She took frae them the groff wax-light : 
Says, " Now ye sail ligg i' tlie mirk a' night ! " 

'Twas lang i' the night, and the bairnies grat; 
Their mither she under the mools heard that ; 

That heard the wife under the eard that lay ; 
" For sooth maun I to my bairnies gae ! " 

That wife can stand up at our Lord's knee, 
And " May I gang and my bairnies see ! " 

She prigged sae sair, and she prigged sae lang 
That he at the last ga'e her leave to gang. 

" And thou sail come back when the cork does cr; 
For thou nae Linger sail bide awa." 



314 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

Wi' her banes sae stark a bowt she gae : 
She's riven baith \va' and marble gray.'' ' 

When near to the dvvalling she can gang, 
The dogs they wow'd till the lift it rang. 

When she came till the castell yett, 
Her eldest dochter stood thereat. 



" Why stand ye here, dear dochter mine ? 
How are sma brithers and sisters thine.? " — 

" For sooth ye're a woman baith fair and fine 
But ye are na dear mither of mine." — 

" Och ! how should I be fine or fair ? 

My cheek it is pale, and the ground's my lair. ■ 

" My mither was white, wi' cheek sae red; 
But thou art wan, and liker ane dead." — 



" Och ! how should I be white and red, 
Sae lang as I've been cauld and dead.?" 



When she cam till the chalmer in. 
Down the bairns' cheeks the tears did rin. 

She buskit the tane, and she brush'd it there 
She kem'd and plaited the tither's hair. 

The thirden she doodl'd upon her knee, 
And the fourthen she dichted sae cannilie. 



' The original of this and the following stanza is very fine : — 
" Hun skod op sine modige been, 
Der revenede muur og graa marmorsteen. 
Der hun gik igenmem den by, 
De hiindl de tude saa h'ojt i s^y." 



APPENDIX. 



3IS 



She's ta'en the fifthen upon her lap, 
iiuid sweetly suckled it at lier pap. 

Till her eldest dochter syne said she, 
" Ye bid Child Dyring come here to me/ 



When he cam till the chalmer in, 
Wi' angry mood she said to him : 

" I left you routh o' ale and bread ; 
My bairnies quail for hunger and need. 

"I left ahind me braw bowsters blae ; 
My bairnies are liggmg i' the bare strae. 

" I left ye sae mony a groff wax-lighf ; 
My bairnies ligg i' the mirk a' nicht. 

" Gin aft I come back to visit thee, 
Wae, dowy, and weary thy luck shall be.' 



Up spak little Kirstin in bed that lay : 
" To thy bairnies I'll do the best I may." 

Aye when they heard the dog nirr and bell, 
Sae ga'e they the bairnies bread and ale. 

Aye when the dog did wow, in haste 

They cross'd and sain'd themselves frae the ghaist. 

Aye whan the little dog yowl'd, with fear 

{And O gin I were young') 
They shook at the thought that the dead was near. 

/' the greenwood it lists me to ride.) 
or, 

i^Fair words sae viony a heart they cheer.) 



3i6 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 



GLOSSARY TO "THE GHAIST'S WARNING." 



May^ maid. 

Lists^ pleases. 

Stead, place. 

Bairfts, children. 

In fere, together. 

Winsome, engaging; giving joy (old 

Teutonic.) 
Syne, then. 

Fessen, fetched, brought. 
Drave, drove. 
Diile, sorrow. 
Dout, fear. 

Bowster, bolster ; cushion ;• bed. 
Blae, blue. 
Strae, straw. 

Groff, great : large in girt. 
Mark, mirk ; dark. 
Lang V the night, late. 
Grat, wept. 
Moots, mould ; eartn. 
Eard, earth. 
Gae, go. 
Prigged, entreated earnestly and per- 

severingly. 
Gang, go. 
Craw, crow. 
Banes, bones. 
Stark, strong. 
Bowt, bolt ; elastic spring, like that of a 

bolt, or arrow from a bow. 



Riven, split asunder 

VVa\ wall. 

Wow'd, howled. 

Lift, sky ; firmament ; air. 

Yctt, gate. 

Sina, small. 

Lire, complexion. 

Cald, cold. 

Till, to. 

Rin, run. 

Buskit, dressed. 

Kevihi, combed. 

Tither, the other. 

Routh, plenty. 

Quail, are quelled ; die. 

Need, want. 

Aland, behind. 

Br aw, brave ; fine. 

Dowy, sorrowful. 

Nirr, snarl. 

Bell, bark. 

Sained, blessed: literally, signed with 
the sign of the cross. Before the 
introduction of Christianity, Rtmes 
were used in saining, as a spell 
against the power of enchanfment 
and evil genii. 

Gliaist, ghost. 



APPENDIX. 317 



Note L. 

Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak, 

Our moonlight circle''s screen I' 
Or zvho comes here to chase the deer. 

Beloved of our Elfin ^ueen f — P. 162. 

It has been already observed, that fairies, if not positively 
malevolent, are capricious, and easily offended. They are, 
like other proprietors of forests, peculiarly jealous of their 
rights of vert and venison^ as appears from the cause of of- 
fence taken, in the original Danish ballad. This jealousy was 
also an attribute of the northern Duefgar, or dwarfs ; to many 
of whose distinctions the fairies seem to have succeeded, if, 
indeed, they are not the same class of beings. In the huge 
metrical record of German Chivalry, entitled the Helden- 
Buch, Sir Hildebrand, and the other heroes of whom it treats, 
are engaged in one of their most desperate adventures, from 
a rash violation of the rose-garden of an Elfin, or Dwarf 
King. 

There are yet traces of a belief in this worst and most mali- 
cious order of Fairies among the border wilds. Dr. Leyden 
has introduced such a dwarf into his ballad entitled the Cout 
of Keeldar, and has not forgotten his characteristic detesta- 
tion of the chase. 

" The third blast that young Keeklar blew, 
Still stood the limber fern, 
And a wee man, of swarthy hue, 
Upstarted by a cairn. 

His russet weeds were brown as heath 

Tliat clothes the upland fell ; 
And the hair of his head was frizzly red 

As the purple heather-bell. 



3l8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



" An urchin, clad in prickles red, 
Clung cow'ring to his arm ; 
The hounds they howl'd, and backward fled, 
As struck by fairy charm, 

" ' Why rises high the stag-hound's cry, 
Where stag-hound ne'er should be ? 
Why wakes that horn the silent morn 
Without the leave of me ? ' — 

* Brown dwarf, that o'er the moorland strays, 

Thy name to Keeldar tell ! ' — 
' The Brown Man of the Muirs, who stays 

Beneath the heather-bell. 

" * 'Tis sweet be.ieath the heather-bell 
To live in autumn brown ; 
And sweet to hear the lav'rock's swell, 
Far, far from tower and town. 

" * But woe betide the shrilling horn, 
The chase's surly cheer ! 
And ever that hunter is forlorn, 
Whom first at morn I hear.' " 

The poetical picture here given of the Duergar corresponds 
exactly with the following Northumbrian legend, with which 
I was lately favored by my learned and kind friend, Mr. 
Surtees of Mainsforth, who has bestowed indefatigable labor 
upon the antiquities of the English Border counties. The 
subject is in itself so curious, that the length of the note will, 
I hope, be pardoned. 

" I have only one record to offer of the appearance of our 
Northumbrian Duergar. My narratrix is Elizabeth Cock- 
burn, an old wife of Offerton, in this county, whose credit, in 
a case of this kind, will not, I hope, be much impeached, 
when I add, that she is, by her dull neighbors, supposed to be 
occasionally insane, but, by herself, to be at those times en- 
dowed with a faculty of seeing visions, and spectral appear- 
ances, which shu]i the common ken. 



APPENDIX. 319 



" In the year before the great rebelUon, two young men 
from Newcastle were sporting on the high moors above 
Elsclon, and after pursuing their game several hours, sat down 
to dine in a green glen near one of the mountain streams. 
After their repast, the younger lad ran to the brook for wa- 
ter, and after stooping to drink, was surprised, on lifting his 
head again, by the appearance of a brown dwarf, who stood 
on a crag covered with brackens, across the burn. This ex- 
traordinary personage did not appear to be above half the 
stature of a common man, but was uncommonly stout and 
broad-built, having the appearance of vast strength. His 
dress was entirely brown, the color of the brackens, and his 
head covered with frizzled red hair. His countenance was 
expressive of the most savage ferocity, and his eyes glared 
like a bull. It seems he addressed the young man first, 
threatening him with his vengeance for having trespassed on 
his demesnes, and asking him if he knew in whose presence 
he stood ? The youth replied, that he now supposed him to 
be the lord of the moors ; that he offended through igno- 
rance ; and offered to bring him the game he had killed. The 
dwarf was a little mollified by this submission, but remarked, 
that nothing could be more offensive to him than such an 
offer, as he considered the wild animals as his subjects, and 
never failed to avenge their destruction. He condescended 
further to inform him, that he was, like himself, mortal, 
though of years far exceeding the lot of common humanity ; 
and (what I should not have had an idea of) that he hoped 
for salvation. He never, he added, fed on anything that had 
life, but lived in the summer on whortleberries, and in winter 
on nuts and apples, of which he had great store in the woods. 
Finally, he invited his new acquaintance to accompany him 
home, and partake his hospitality ; an offer which the youth 
was on the point of accepting, and was just going to spring 
across the brook (which if he had done, says Elizabeth, the 



320 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

dwarf would certainly have torn him in pieces), when his foot 
was arrested by the voice of his companion, who thought 
he had tarried long : and on looking round again, ' the wee 
brown man was fled.' The story adds, that he was impru- 
dent enough to slight the admonition, and to sport over the 
moors on his way homewards : but soon after his return he 
fell into a lingering disorder, and died within the year." 



Note M. 

And gaily shines the Fairy-land — 
^ut all is glistening show. — P. 165. 

No fact respecting Fairy-land seems to be better ascer- 
tained than the fantastic and illusory nature of its apparent 
pleasure and splendor. It has been already noticed in the 
former quotations from Dr. Grahame's entertaining volume, 
and may be confirmed by the following Highland tradition : 
"A woman, whose new-born child had been conveyed by 
them into their secret abodes, was also carried thither herself, 
to remain, however, only until she could suckle her infant. 
She, one day, during this period, observed the Shi'ichs busily 
employed in mixing various ingredients in a boiling caldron ; 
luid, as soon the composition was prepared, she remarked 
that they all carefully anointed their eyes with it, laying the 
remainder aside for future use. In a moment when they 
'were all absent, she also attempted to anoint her eyes with 
the precious drug, but had time to apply it to one eye only; 
when the Daoine Shi' returned. But with thai eye she was 
henceforth enabled to see everything as it really passed in 
their secret abodes she saw every object, not as she hitherto 
had done, in deceptive splendor and elegance, but in its gen- 
uine colors and form. The gaudy ornaments of the apart- 
ment were reduced to the walls of a gloomy cavern. Soon 



APPENDIX. 321 



after, having discharged her office, she was dismissed to her 
own home. Still, however, she retained the faculty of seeing, 
with her medicated eye, everything that was done, anywhere 
in her presence, by the deceptive art of the order. One day, 
amidst a throng of people, she chanced to observe the 
Shi'ich, or man of peace, in whose possession she had left 
her child ; though to every other eye invisible. Prompted by 
maternal affection, she inadvertently accosted him, and began 
to inquire after the welfare of her child. The man of peace, 
astonished at being thus recognised by one of mortal race, 
demanded how she had been enabled to discover him. 
Awed by the terrible frown of his countenance she acknowl- 
edged what she had done. He spat in her eye, and extin- 
guished it forever." — Graham's Sketches^ p. 116-118. It is 
very remarkable, that this story, translated by Dr. Grahame 
from popular Gaelic tradition, is to be found in the " Otia 
Imperialia " of Gervase of Tilbury.^ A work of great inter- 

^ This story is still current in the moors of Staffordshire, and adapted by the 
peasantry to their own meridian. I have repeatedly heard it told, exactly as here, 
by rustics who could not read. My last authority was a nailer near Cheadle. — R, 
Jamieson. 

One other legend, in a similar strain, lately communicated by a very intelligent 
young lady, is given, principally because it furnishes an opportunity of pursuing an 
ingenious idea suggested by Mr. Scott, in one of his learned notes to the Lady of 
the Lake : — 

" A young man roaming one day through the forest, observed a number of per- 
sons all dressed in green, issuing from one of those round eminences which are 
commonly accounted fairy hills. Each of them in succession called upon a person 
by name, to fetch his horse. A caparisoned steed instantly appeared ; they all 
mounted, and sallied forth into the regions of air. The young man, like Ali Baba in 
the Arabian Nights, ventured to pronounce the same name, and called for his 
horse. The steed immediately appeared ; he mounted, and was soon joined to the 
fairy choir. He remained with them for a year, going about with them to fairs and 
weddings, and feasting, though unseen by mortal eyes, on the victuals that were 
exhibited on those occasions. They had^ one day, gone to a wedding, where the 
cheer was abundant. During the feast, the bridegroom sneezed. The young man, 
according to the usual custom, said, ' God bless you ! " The fairies were offended 
at the pronunciation of the sacred name, and assured him, that if he dared to re- 



V12 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



est might be compiled upon the origin of popular fiction, and 
the transmission of similar tales from age to age, and from 
country to country. The mythology of one period would 
then appear to pass into the romance of the next century, 
and that into the nursery-tale of the subsequent ages. Such 
an investigation, while it went greatly to diminish our ideas 
of the richness of human invention, would also show, that 
these fictions, however wild and childish, possess such charm.s 
for the populace, as enable them to penetrate into countries 
unconnected by manners and language, and having no appa- 
rent intercourse, to afford the means of transmission. It 
would carry me far beyond my bounds, to produce instances 
of this community of fable, among nations who never bor- 
rowed from each other anything intrinsically worth learning 
Indeed, the wide diffusion of popular fictions may be com- 
pared to the facility with which straws and feathers are 
dispersed abroad by the wind, while valuable metals cannot 
be transported without trouble and labor. There lives, I be- 
lieve, only one gentleman, whose unlimited acquaintance with 
this subject might enable him to do it justice ; I mean my 
friend Mr. Francis Douce, of the British Museum, whose 
usual kindness will, I hope, pardon my mentioning his name, 
while on a subject so closely connected with his extensive and 
curious researches. 

peat it, they would punish him. The bridegroom sneezed a second time. He 
repeated his blessing ; they threatened more tremendous vengeance. He sneezed a 
third time ; he blessed hmi as before. The fairies were enraged ; they tumbled him 
from a precipice ; but he found himself unhurt, and was restored to the society of 
mortals. — Dr. Grahame's Sketches^ second edition, pp. 255-7. See Note, " Fairy 
Superstitions," Rob Roy, N. Edit. 



APPENDIX. 323 



Note N, 

See^ here- all vantageless I standi 

Arm^d, like thyself^ xvith single brand, — P. .204. 

The duellists of former times did not always stand upor 
those punctilios respecting equality of arms, which are now- 
judged essential to fair combat. It is true that, in formal 
combat in the lists, the parties were, by the judges of the 
field, put as nearly as possible in the same circumstances. 
But in private duel it was often otherwise. In that desperate 
combat which was fought between Quelus, a minion of Henry 
III. of France, and Antraguet, with two seconds on each 
side, from which only two persons escaped alive, Quelus com- 
plained that his antagonist had over him the advantage of a 
poniard which he used in parrying, while his left hand, which 
he was forced to employ for the same purpose, was cruelly 
mangled. When he charged Antraguet with this odds, "Thou 
hast done wrong," answered he, "to forget thy dagger at 
home. We are here to fight, and not to settle punctilios of 
arms." In a similar duel, however, a youngei brother of the 
house of Aubanye, in Angoulesme, behaved more generously 
on the like occasion, and at once threw away his dagger when 
his enemy challenged it as an undue advantage. But at this 
time hardly anything can be conceived more horribly brutal 
and savage than the mode in which private quarrels were 
conducted in France. Those who were most jealous of the 
point of honor, and acquired the title of Ruffines, did not 
scruple to take every advantage of strength, numbers, sur- 
prise, and arms, to accomplish their revenge. The Sieur de 
Brantome, to whose discourse on duels I am obliged for these 
particulars, gives the following account of the death and 
principles of his friend, the Baron de Vitaux : — 



THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 



" J'ay oui conter a un Tireur d'armes, qui apprit a Millaud 
a en tirer, lequel s'apelloit Seigneur le Jacques Ferron, de la 
ville d'Ast, qui avoit este a moy, il fut despuis tue' a Saincte- 
Basille en Gascogne, lors que Monsieur du Mayne I'assie'gea, 
lui servant d'Ingenieur ; et de malheur, je i'avois addresse 
audit Baron quelques trois mois auparavant, pour I'exercer a 
tirer, bien qu'il en sgeust prou ; mais il ne'en fit compte ; et 
le laissant Millaud s'en servit, et le rendit fort adroit. Ce 
Seigneur Jacques done me raconta, qu'il s'estoit monte sur 
un noyer, assez loing, pour en voir le combat, et qu'il ne vist ja- 
mais homme y aller plus bravement, ny plus resolument, ny de 
grace plus asseuree ny de'terminee. II commenga de marcher 
de cinquante pas vers son enemy, relevant souvent ses mous- 
taches en haut d'une main ; et estant a vingt pas de son 
ennemy, (non plustost,) il mit la main a I'espee quil tenoit en 
la main, non qu'il I'eust tiree encore ; mais en marchant, il fit 
voller le fourreau en I'air, en le secouant, ce qui est le beau 
de cela, et qui monstroit bien un grace de combat bien 
asseuree et froide, et nullement temeraire, comme il y en a 
qui tirent leurs espees de cinq cents pas de I'ennemy, voire de 
mille, comme j'en ay veu aucuns. Ainsi mourut ce brave 
Baron, le parogon de France, qu' on nommoit tel, a bien 
venger, ses querelles, par grandes et determinees resolutions. 
II n'estoit pas seulement estime en France, mais en Italic, 
Espaigne, AUemaigne, en Boulogne et Angleterre ; et desiro- 
ient fort les Estrangers, venant en France, le voir ; car je I'ay 
veu, tant sa renommee volloit. II estoit fort petit de corps, 
mais fort grand de courage. Ses ennemis disoient qu'il ne 
tuoit pas bien ses gens, que par advantages et supercheries. 
Certes, je tiens de grands capitaines, et mesme d'ltaliens, qui 
ont estez d'autres fois les premiers vengeurs du mond, in ogni 
7nodo, disoient-ils, qui ont tenu cette maxime, qu'une super- 
cherie ne se devoit payer que par semblable monnoye, et n'y 
alloit point la de deshonneur." — Oeuvres de Brantome, Paris, 



APPENDIX. 325 



1787-8. Tome viii. p. 90-92. It may be necessary to inform 
the reader, that this paragon of France was the most foul 
assassin of his time, and had committed many desperate 
murders, chiefly by the assistance of his hired banditti ; from 
which it may be conceived how Httle the point of honor of 
the period deserved its name. I have chosen to give my 
heroes, who are indeed of an earlier period, a stronger tinc- 
ture of the spirit of chivalry. 



Note O. 
The bti'ghers hold their s/>or/s to-day. — P. 217. 

Every burgh of Scotland of the least note, but more espec- 
ially the considerable towns, had their solemn//^/;', or festival, 
when feats of archery were exhibited, and prizes distributed 
to those who excelled in wrestling, hurling the bar, and the 
other gymnastic exercises of the period. Stirling, a usual 
place of royal residence, was not likely to be deficient in 
pomp upon such occasions, especially since James V. was 
very partial to them. His ready participation in these popu- 
lar amusements vs^as one cause of his acquiring the title of 
King of the Commons, or Rex Plchdorum., as Lesley has 
latinized it. The usual prize to the best shooter was a silver 
arrow. Such a one is prese ved at Selkirk and at Peebles. 
At Dumfries, a silver gun was substituted, and the contention 
transferred to fire-arms. The ceremony, as there per- 
formed, is the subject of an excellent Scottish poem, by 
Mr. John Mayne, entitled the Silver Gun, 1808, which sur- 
passes the efforts of Fergusson, and comes near to those of 
Burns. 

Of James's attachment to archery, Pitscottie, the faithful, 
though rude recorder of the manners of that period, has 
given us evidence : — 



326 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

" In this year there came an embassador out of England, 
named Lord William Howard, with a bishop with him, with 
many other gentlemen, to the number of threescore horse, 
which were all able men and waled [picked] men for all kinds 
of games and pastimes, shooting, louping, running, wTestlin.g, 
and casting of the stone, but they were well 'sayed [essayed 
or tried) ere they passed out of Scotland, and that by their 
own provocation ; but ever they tirit : till at last, the Queen of 
Scotland, the king's mother, favoured the English-men, be- 
cause she was the King of England's sister ; and therefore 
she took an enterprise of archery upon the English-men's 
hands, contrary her son the king, and any six in Scotland that 
he would wale, either gentlemen or yeomen, that the English- 
men should shoot against them, either at pricks, revers, or 
buts, as the Scots pleased. 

"The king, hearing this of his mother, was content, and 
gart her pawn a hundred crowns, and a tun of wine, upon the 
English-men's hands ; and he incontinent laid down as much 
for the Scottish-men. The field and ground was chosen in 
St. Andrews, and three landed meii and three yeomen chosen 
to shoot against the English-men, — to wit, David Wemys of 
that ilk, David Arnot of that ilk, and Mr. John Wedderburn, 
vicar of Dundee ; the yeomen, John Thomson, in Leith, Steven 
Taburner, with a piper, called Alexander Bailie ; they shot 
very near, and warred [worsted] the English-men of the en< 
terprise, and wan the hundred crowns and the tun of wine, 
which made the king very merry that his men wan the vic- 
tory." 



APPENDIX. 327 



Note P. 

These drew 7iot for their fields the sivord^ 
Like tenants of a feudal lord, 
Nor otv?i'd the patriarchal claim. 

Of Chieftain in their leader'' s name : 
Adve7iturers they P. 237. 

The Scottish armies consisted chiefly of the nobility and 
barons, with their vassals, who held lands under them, for 
military service by themselves and their tenants. The patri- 
archal influence exercised by the heads of clans in the High- 
lands and Borders was of a different nature, and sometimes 
at variance with feudal principles. It flowed from the Fatria 
Potestas, exercised by the chieftain as representing the origi- 
nal father of the whole name, and was often obeyed in con- 
tradiction to the feudal superior. James V. seems to have 
first introduced, in addition to the militia furnished from 
these sources, the service of a small number of mercenaries, 
who formed a body-guard, called the Foot-Band. The sati- 
rical poet. Sir David Lindsay (or the person whe wrote the 
prologue to his play of the " Three Estaites,") has introduced 
Finlay of the Foot-Band, who, after much swaggering upon 
the stage, is at length put to flight by the Fool, who terri- 
fies him by means of a sheep's scull upon a pole. I have 
rather chosen to give them the harsh features of the merce-= 
nary soldiers of the period, than of this Scottish Thraso. 
These partook of the character of the Adventurous Compan- 
ions of Froissart or the Condottieri of Italy. 

One of the best and liveliest traits of such manners is the 
last will of a leader, called Geffroy Tete Noir, who having 
been slightly wounded in a skirmish, his intemperance brought 
on a mortal disease. When he found himself dying, he sum- 



328 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

moned to his bedside the adventurers whom he commanded, 
and thus addressed tliem : — 

" Fayre sirs, quod Geffray, I knowe well ye have alwayes 
served and honoured me as men ought to serve their sove- 
raygne and capitayne, and I shall be the gladder if ye wyll 
to have to your capitayne one that is descended of my agre 
blode. Beholde here Aleyne Roux, my cosyn, and Peter his 
brother, who are men of armes and of my blode. I require 
you to make Aleyne your capitayne, and to swere to hym 
faythe, obeysaunce, love, and loyalte, here in my presence, 
and also to his brother : howe be it, I wyll that Aleyne have 
the soverayne charge. Sir, quod they, we are well content, 
for ye hauve ryght well chosen. There all the companyons 
made them breke no poynt of that ye have ordayned and 
commaunded." — Lord Berners' Froissart. 



Note Q. 

And S)ioxvdoufi's Knight is Scoflafid^s King. — P. 269. 

This discovery will probably remind the reader of the 
beautiful Arabian tale of // Bondocani. Yet the incident is 
not borrowed from that elegant story, but from Scottish tra- 
dition. James V. of whom we are treating, was a monarch 
whose good and benevolent intentions often rendered his 
romantic freaks venial, if not respectable, since, from his 
anxious attention to the interests of the lower and most op- 
pressed class of his subjects, he was, as we have seen, popu= 
larly termed the King of the Commons. For the purpose of 
seeing that justice was regularly administered, and frequently 
from the less justifiable motive of gallantry, he used to trav- 
erse the vicinage of his several palaces in various disguises. 
The two excellent comic songs, entitled "The Gaberlunzie 
Man," and "We'll gae nae mair a roving," are said to have 



APPENDIX. 329 

been founded upon the success of his amorous adventures 
when travelhng in the disguise of a beggar. The latter is 
perhaps the best comic ballad in any language. 

Another adventure, which had nearly cost James his life, is 
said to have taken place at the village of Cramond, near Ed- 
inburgh, where he had rendered his addresses acceptable to a 
pretty girl of the lower rank. Four or five persons, whether 
relations or lovers of his mistress is uncertain, beset the dis= 
tinguished monarch as he returned from his rendezvous. 
Naturally gallant, and an admirable master of his weapon, 
the king took post on the high and narrow bridge over the 
Almond river, and defended himself bravely with his sword. 
A peasant, who was threshing in a neighboring barn, came out 
upon the noise, and whether moved by compassion or by nat- 
ural gallantry, took the weaker side, and laid about with flail 
so effectually, as to disperse the assailants, well threshed, even 
according to the letter. He then conducted the king into his 
barn, where his guest requested a basin and a towel, to remove 
the stains of the broil. This being procured with difficulty 
James employed himself in learning what was the summit of his 
deliverer's earthly wishes, and found that they were bounded 
by the desire of possessing, in property, the farm of Braehead, 
upon which he labored as a bondsman. The lands chanced 
to belong to the rrown ; and James directed him to come to 
the palace of Holyrood, and enquire for the Guidman (/. e. 
farmer) of Ballengiech, a name by which he was known in 
his excursions, and which answered to the II Bondocani of 
Haroun Alraschid. He presented himself accordingly, and 
found, with due astonishment, that he had saved his monarch's 
life, and that he was to be gratified with a crown-charter of 
the lands of Braehead, under the service of presenting a ewer, 
basin, and towel, for the king to wash his hands, when he 
shall happen to pass the bridge of Cramond. This person 
was ancestor of the Howiesons of Braehejd in Mid-Lothian, 



SSO THE LADY OF THE LAKE, 

a respectable family, who continue to hold the lands (now 
passed into the female line) under the same tenure.^ 

Another of James's frolics is thus narrated by Mr. Camp- 
bell from the Statistical Account: "Being once benighted 
when out a-hunting, and separated from his attendants, he 
happened to enter a cottage in the midst of a moor, at the 
foot of the Ochil hills, near Alloa, where, unknown, he was 
kindly received. In order to regale their unexpected guest, 
the gudcman (/. e. landlord, farmer) desired the giidewife to 
fetch the hen that roosted nearest the cock, which is always 
the plumpest, for the stranger's supper. The king, highly 
pleased with his night's lodging and hospitable entertainment, 
told mine host, at parting, that he should be glad to return 
his civility, and requested that the first time he came to Stir- 
ling he would call at the castle, and enquire for the Gudonan 
of Ballengiiich. Donaldson, the landlord, did not fail to 
call on the Gudcman of BaUaiguich^ when his astonishment 
at finding that the king had been his guest afforded no small 
amusement to the merry monarch and his courtiers ; and, to 
carry on the pleasantry, he was thenceforth designated by 
James with the title of King of the Moors, which name and 
designation have descended from father to son ever since, and 
they have continued in possession of the identical spot, the 
property of Mr. Erskine of Mar, till very lately, when this 
gentleman, with reluctance, turned out the descendant and 
representative of the K:*ng of the Moors, on account of his 
majesty's invincible indolence, and great dislike to reform or 
innovation of any kind, although, from the spirited example 



^ [The reader will find this story told at greater length, and with the addition 
in particular of the king being recognized, like the Fitz-James of the Lady of the 
Lake, by being the only person covered, in the First Series of Tales of a Grand- 
father, vol. iii., p. y]. The heir of Braehead discharged his duty at the ban- 
quet given to King George IV. in the Parliament House at Edinburgh, m 
1822. — Ed.] 



APPENDIX. 33 T 

ot nis neighbor tenants on the same estate, he is convinced 
similar exertion would promote his advantage." 

The author requests permission yet farther to verify the 
subject of his poem, by an extract from tire genealogical 
work of Buchanan of Auchmar, upon Scottish surnames : — 

"This John Buchanan of Auchmar and Arnpryor was 
afterwards termed King of Kippen,^ upon the following 
account : King James V., a very sociable, debonair prince, 
residing at Stirling, in Buchanan of Arnnryor's time, carriers 
were very frequently passing along the common road, being 
near Arnpryor's house, with necessaries for the use of the 
king's family ; and he, having some extraordinary occasion, 
ordered one of these carriers to leave his load at his house, 
and he would pay him for it ; which the carrier refused to do, 
telling him he was the king's carrier, and his load for his ma- 
jesty's use ; to which Arnpr}^or seemed to have small regaro, 
compelling the carrier, in the end, to leave his load ; telling 
him, if King James was King of Scotland, he was King of 
Kippen, so that it was reasonable he should share with his 
neighbor king in some of these loads, so frequently carried 
that road. The carrier representing this usage, and telling 
the stor}', as Arnpryor spoke it, to some of the king's servants, 
it came at length to his majesty's ears, who, shortly there- 
after, with a few attendants, came to visit his neighbor kiag, 
who was in the mean time at dinner. King James having 
sent a servant to demand access, was denied the same by a 
tall fellow with a battleaxe, who stood porter at the gate, 
telling, there could be no access till dinner was over. This 
answer not satisfying the king, he sent to demand access a 
second time ; upon which he was desired by the porter to de- 
sist, otherwise he would find cause to repent his rudeness. 
His majesty finding this method would not do, desired the 

' A small district of Perthshire. 



33^ THE LADY OF THE LAKE. 

porter to tell his master that the Goodman of Ballageigh de- 
sired to speak with the King of Kippen. The porter telling 
Arnpryor so much, he, in all humble manner, came and re- 
ceived the king, and having entertained him with much 
sumptousness and jollity, became so agreeable to King James 
that he allowed him to take so much of any provision he found 
carrying that road as he had c2casion for; and seeing he 
made the first visit, desired Arnpryor in a few days to return 
him a second to Stirling, which he performed, and continued 
in very much favour with the king, always thereafter being 
termed King of Kippen while he lived." — Buchanan's 
Essay upo7i the Family of Buchanan. Edin. 1775, 8vo, p. 74. 
The readers of Ariosto must give credit for the amiable 
features with which he is represented, since he is generally 
considered as the prototype of Zerbino, the most interesting 
hero of the Orlando Furioso. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




014 528 827 7 



r' 



